In addition, convergence criteria were designed to provide countries with yardsticks against which to measure their progress toward a true culture of stability in the run-up to Monetary Union. But the interpretation of the entry criteria remained a matter of debate for most of the years that followed the promulgation of the Treaty. Observers were divided.
Some took the position that the Treaty’s criteria were too strict and ambitious, given the initial conditions from which a number of member countries had to start convergence. Others, from the perspective of the most stable economies in the EU, were convinced that they granted considerable, in fact excessive, latitude.