EMU

4. Brief history of the Economic Monetary Union (EMU) The Economic Monetary Union (EMU) was formed after a long history of attempts at political integration within Western Europe. What began merely as idea in the 1950s has finally become a reality in the current decade. The process of integration initially started with the establishment of the Treaty of Rome, signed in 1957, which gave rise to the European Common Market, also known as the European Economic Community. …

…Gross Domestic Product (GDP), unless they are temporary and exceptional. 3. Currencies must have respected the normal fluctuation margins provided by the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) of the European Monetary System (EMS) without severe tensions or unilateral devaluation for at least the last two years. 4. Long term interest rates, observed over a period of one year, must not be above 2% of the average of the best three member states in term of price stability. (See fig. 1)