ABSTRACT
The book has, so far, examined monetary policy in Central Europe during the period spanning years 1993 through the end of 2001. The accession of all four countries to the European Union in May 2004 has brought new challenges for policy-makers in the area of monetary policy, as it put them on a direct path to the euro. All new member states, unlike the UK or Denmark, have taken on the obligation to fulfil the Maastricht criteria and join the single currency. There is no transitional period, permanent derogation or waiver, but an official expectation that they will join once they have achieved ‘a sufficient degree of sustainable nominal convergence . . . examined by means of the Maastricht convergence criteria’ (Issing 2005:1). This is embodied in Article 4 of the Treaty of Accession, whereby all new member states received the status of ‘Member States with derogation’ regarding EMU membership (European Commission 2004: 2). What can the research presented in the previous seven chapters tell us about monetary policy in this new phase?
