Introduction

The pace of integration amongst European Union (EU) member states has accelerated considerably during the past decade, stimulated by the agreement to form the Single Internal Market and further enhanced by the process of forming an Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). Indeed, the latter will fundamentally transform macroeconomic management as nation states relinquish exchange rate and monetary policy to a European Central Bank (ECB), which will generate common interest and exchange rates shared by all participants (EU Commission, 1992).