Will EMU’s troubles delay the Union’s enlargement?
A new European Union treaty paving the way for enlargement is meant to be signed next week in Amsterdam. But a Franco-German row over the rules for Europe’s planned single currency may mess up the meeting
THE feeling of déjà vu can be oppressive. In Dublin last December, a European summit was meant to mark a decisive step in the inter-governmental conference (IGC) that began in spring a year ago and was meant to revise the Maastricht treaty. But the Dublin meeting was dominated by a squabble between France and Germany over a “stability pact” to restrict borrowing by countries that join the single currency, the euro. The row eventually blew over. To reassure everybody that the euro really was likely to be launched on January 1st 1999, the first euro banknote designs were, with much ado, unveiled.
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Will EMU’s troubles delay the Union’s enlargement?”
From the June 14th 1997 edition
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