The Process of European Monetary Integration

I should like to divide my remarks today on the process of European Monetary Integration into three parts. The first is a brief assessment of the progress towards convergence. Under the Treaty, the EMI is assigned an important role in assessing whether countries entering Economic and Monetary Union have fulfilled the necessary conditions for the adoption of a single currency. In the second part, I shall say a few words on the EMI´s task of preparing the ground for the conduct of the single monetary policy in Stage Three. Finally, I would like to briefly consider timing issues related to the transition to the single monetary policy and to the changeover to a single currency.