DP928 Stage Two: Feasible Transitions to EMU
This paper addresses the issue of the transition from Stage Two of EMU to Stage Three. The criteria established in the Maastricht Treaty for this transition include an ERM qualification. Under this criterion a participating country would have had to maintain its position in the normal bands of the ERM for a period of not less than two years. The accepted interpretation of `normal' has been `narrow' (2.25%). The speculative crises of 1992 and 1993 and their resolution in the form of the present `broad-bands' ERM complicate the problem of satisfying this criterion. The paper asks whether the criterion on its accepted interpretation is well-founded and, if so, what policies would need to be pursued, in the light of recent experience, in order to satisfy it. A critical part of the conclusion is that the EMI must be given, by agreement, greater powers of decision and recommendation than currently envisaged.
