SO IT takes an American to remind Europeans about the importance of economic integration, at a time when many of them are losing faith in the viability of the European project. That the American in question should be John Lipsky, the man who has been running the IMF since the downfall of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, somehow adds to the power of his words.

Few people normally pay attention to the IMF's “article IV” mission to the euro area, a sort of annual health check. But coming at a time when the euro area is in fibrillation, the opinion of an external expert is bound to draw some attention. Mr Lipsky took the opportunity to deliver two strong messages.

Firstly, the Europeans need to get a grip on the sovereign-debt crisis, which is threatening to “overwhelm” the euro area's recent economic gains and cause “large global spillovers”. In other words, contagion could spread from the “periphery” to core European states, and could infect other economies too. (Conversely, resolving the crisis would help the global economy.)

Secondly, and more interestingly, the way to deal with the problem is not by restructuring the debt of troubled European states, but by greater economic integration. In other words, “more Europe”. Mr Lipsky concluded his remarks by chiding Europeans for losing their sense of history and ambition.

Looking ahead, it is important to learn from the crisis and define a clear vision for the future. The story of European integration since WWII has been an incredible success—not least because the leaders who built the European Union and the euro area looked beyond the crises of their day. Indeed, if the euro area is to be more stable and resilient and live up to its growth potential, it will have to press ahead with a broad reform agenda now. Many welcome initiatives are under way, but in our view in nearly all areas a few crucial additional steps are needed to make them add up to a consistent set up.

Such words would gladden the heart of the most passionate euro-federalists, such as Guy Verhodstadt, the former Belgian prime minister, who declared recently (interview here, in French) that the only answer to the euro-zone crisis was to “move towards the United States of Europe”. By contrast, a long report in the current Der Spiegel, a German weekly, captures the sense of gloom as it argues that “the euro is becoming an ever-greater threat to Europe's common future”.

The IMF's report is full of exhortations for the EU to move more decisively towards “a truly cohesive approach”. To begin with, European leaders should stop the “unproductive debate” on debt restructuring/reprofiling, which risks spreading contagion. Mr Lipsky smiled when asked about this, saying he had asked for the word “unproductive” to be removed from the statement after some “real progress” was made during ill-tempered talks the previous night (ie, Germany gave up on the idea of debt swaps).

The IMF says European “policymakers have focussed on national priorities, but the key to success is the strength of the economic union”. The EU's single market should be deepened, capital markets should be integrated and countries should give up the idea of protecting “national champions” from takeovers. There is a need for a Europe-wide fund to support banks that are in trouble or need to be wound up. The main European bail-out fund, known as the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), should be boosted and allowed to buy up the bonds of troubled states. Fiscal rules for governments need to be tightened, with more automatic sanctions for rule-breakers and a greater say for the European Commission in monitoring and guiding economic policies.

The IMF has adopted an unexpected position in another sense: it has become a thorn in the side of those creditor countries—mainly AAA-rated Germany, the Netherlands and Finland—that want the private sector to take up a part of the burden in the EU's second bail-out of Greece, which is expected to add up to about €100 billion ($144 billion) on top of last year's €110 billion rescue.

With Greece on the brink of default, Mr Lipsky was adamant in a meeting with euro-zone finance ministers on Sunday night that he could not endorse the next tranche of EU/IMF money for Greece, totalling €12 billion, due in July. Before doing so, he says he must have assurances that the EU would make up the financing gap that Greece will suffer starting next year, because it will be unable to borrow on the markets as once hoped.

Creditor states want a “substantial” but unspecified part of the assistance to come from private bondholders “voluntarily” rolling over the Greek debt when the current bonds mature. If the amount is small, says one minister, his country will not pay for Greece. All this was too uncertain for Mr Lipsky's liking. He wanted euro-zone states to guarantee that the money would be available “one way or another”, regardless of how much they can squeeze out of the private sector.

Luckily for everyone concerned, all eyes are now on Greece. George Papandreou, the Greek prime minister, faces a vote of confidence today and must get parliamentary approval for a large package of deficit-cutting measures and structural reforms.

Still, the muttering among officials in the shed that serves as a glum venue for EU ministerial meetings in Luxembourg is that Mr Lipsky is being much tougher than Mr Strauss-Kahn would have been. And after his rousing call for European endorsement, they can hardly accuse him of being anti-European.