And rightly so, because the completion of EMU became a certainty when it was laid down in the Maastricht Treaty in 1992. EMU is to start off on 1st January 1999. In the spring of 1998 the Heads of Government of the European Union will decide which Member States meet the criteria for entry.
The economy of the euro area has now been integrated for some time; it counts over 300 million people and almost 20 million firms.