ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the history of economic and monetary union (EMU) in the European Community, the policies of the parties involved and the conflicts of interest created in the political and economic environment within which all this has taken place. The chapter relies on the main political theories of European integration and on some basic economic works on monetary union for the theoretical background. The chapter shows that how monetary co-operation evolved from the very restricted area which it was given in the Articles of the Treaty to the first Barre plan and the plethora of proposals for monetary union. It examines the political and economic background of the Summit as well as the various plans which were later put forward by national governments for the creation of an EMU. The chapter covers recent international monetary history and only to the extent that international events have influenced the course of European monetary integration.
