Genesis of a Pact

Abstract

Economic and monetary union represents a decisive step forward in the forty-year-long drive towards political unification in Europe. When viewed from the standpoint of historical experience, traditional affinities and common interests . and, even more importantly, from the standpoint of comparable values and shared objectives . the process of integration which the European states have been undergoing appears at once logical and inevitable. The states are bound to each other, however, not just by historical and sociocultural ties but by economic relationships as well. Similar economic starting conditions and business cycles have brought economic policy across Europe much closer to uniformity than would have been possible between other industrialised nations. The rapid transformation of underlying economic conditions which has taken place since the early 1980s doubtless strengthened the resolve to achieve economic and monetary union. Economic and monetary union may thus be construed as a response to the challenges posed by the increasing intertwinement of industrial economies and by global competition.