Introduction

The apparent determination of most members of the European Community to create a monetary union by the end of the 1990s has sparked off a heated debate among politicians, bankers, economists and interested laymen. Much of this stems from the fear of influential political groups — particularly strong in the United Kingdom — that the union represents, effectively, the penultimate step in the process of creating a United States of Europe. After all, a monetary and economic union of the kind proposed by the Delors Committee in 1989 and approved by Heads of EC Governments at their meeting in Maastricht two years later requires a common political authority to decide its economic and social priorities.