ABSTRACT
The two Inter-governmental Conferences (IGC) were rather different. The economic and monetary union (EMU) IGC had been extensively pre-prepared, and although some disagreements persisted, there was a certain understanding about what the IGC was going to achieve and what the end result would be, EMU. Both were officially launched in Rome in December 1990 but the work was really begun under the Luxembourg Presidency in the first half of 1991. Much of the outcome was opaque and involved deliberate and studied ambiguity. It is important to note that it is the Treaty on not of European Union. The conclusion of the Maastricht agreement was greeted with a good deal of ‘Europhoria’ across Europe and it was expected that ratification would be completed by 1 January 1993, coinciding with the completion of the Single Internal Market at the end of 1992.
