I am delighted to have the opportunity to speak to you today. The title “birthplace of the euro” has not been officially given, but in the public perception there is probably one clear favourite. If an opinion poll were held, the Dutch city of Maastricht would surely have the best chance of taking the title.
After all, the treaty was signed in Maastricht in 1992 and has since been the foundation underpinning European Monetary Union. Yet the Maastricht Treaty was the result of long and intensive negotiations which, in turn, were largely based on the report presented by a group of high-level experts under Jacques Delors, then President of the European Commission.