ABSTRACT
The Treaty of Rome contained no reference to economic and monetary union and did not mention the introduction of a single currency. These are aims which were developed and adopted later, and the meeting of the European Council of Ministers at Maastricht in December 1991 set out a timetable whereby the currency now known as the Euro would be established not later than 1 January 1999. A monetary union exists, obviously, in the United States of America, where the dollar has the same face value in Maine, Michigan and Missouri, and where nothing prevents a business-person in New York from investing his or her money in New Mexico or New Orleans. If the piecemeal approach to European integration adopted from 1951 onwards by the six founder states of the European Community succeeds in creating a singe currency, this will offer another similarity with the United States.
