The Euro and Economic and Monetary Union

Written by a former official of the EC's Monetary Committee, this systematic study meets the need for a description of the EU's economic and monetary union, rooted in the Treaties and the legal texts. It is a guide to the fundamentals of EMU and an aid to understanding and predicting issues and debates arising in Brussels and Frankfurt. EMU is given its location in economic and monetary thought and developing notions of central banking as well as in the history of attempts by the EU to find an effective exchange-rate regime. The book answers concrete questions on the rules for public finance, the concept of an excessive government deficit, the current trend of economic policy, the abolition of exchange control, exchange-rate policy for the Euro and the Community's place in the international monetary system. It makes clear what kind of currency the Euro is, and above all its grounding in price stability.