The Single European Currency: Prospects and an Alternative Proposal

This paper appraises the current position of the European Union (EU) countries, which could potentially become members of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) which is now likely to materialise in January, 1999, in an attempt to argue that the current EMU criteria should be revised. The paper discusses briefly and critically the Maastricht Treaty arrangements and convergence criteria for the single currency, reviews the current position of all the members of the EU, and presents a proposal for a new Maastricht. This alternative proposal seeks to overcome the deflationary biases in the Maastricht proposals, and suggests for low unemployment rates to be included in the convergence criteria.