The EMU Deal: French Ambition; German Design?

Abstract

The Treaty on European Union, or ‘Maastricht Treaty’, was signed by all twelve European Member States in a special ceremony in the Dutch border town of Maastricht on 7 February 1992. In the light of currently available archive material, this chapter assesses how far France had achieved its negotiating objectives on EMU by the time of the signature of the Maastricht Treaty. How satisfied were French negotiators at the time over the outcome? With the benefit of hindsight, what questions do those contemporary judgements now raise? What compromises had France made along the way to Germany and to others? Can one argue that significant flaws in the design of European Economic and Monetary Union were plastered over in Mitterrand’s anxiety to secure a deal with Kohl?