Transnational relations and the development of European economic and monetary union

Abstract

On February 7, 1992, in the Dutch city of Maastricht, the foreign and finance ministers of the twelve member states of the European Community signed the Treaty on European Union. The most ambitious effort ever undertaken in the Community to create new supranational institutions, and to transfer authority from the member states to those institutions, the Treaty committed the member states, among other things, to moving to full Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) by 1999 at the latest. By that date, if not before, some, if not all, of the members will move to the third and final stage of EMU, and the exchange rates between their currencies will be irrevocably locked, a single currency instituted, and a single central bank created that is charged with conducting monetary policy among the participating states.