ABSTRACT
The Economic and Monetary Union represents one of the most important progresses in European integration, a quantum leap with profound implications for the member countries, the citizens of the European Union (EU), and the global financial scene. The idea of a monetary union in Europe was not created at Maastricht. Indeed, it is an idea dating back to the late 1960s, when Pierre Werner, Prime Minister and Finance Minister of Luxembourg, launched the idea of a single currency. Countries such as France and Italy learned that traditional Keynesian policies based on deficit spending and generous welfare state provisions were no longer feasible. Prior to the 1980s, the conventional wisdom was that policy makers could make a choice between the alternative goals of price stability and employment. The EU policy process is characterized by its fluidity. A large number of institutional actors, pressure groups, and expert committees flesh out the design of EU public policies.
