Vol. 430 No. 5
83 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs the implications for Ireland of the decision by the German Bundestag to allow Germany to re-examine its commitment under the Maastricht Treaty to Economic and Monetary Union at the end of the transition period; and his views on whether this German resolution represents a breach of the Treaty itself as signed by Germany.
The Maastricht Treaty specifies the criteria that are required for participation in the third stage of Economic and Monetary Union and the voting procedures required for acting on an evaluation of these criteria. The member states will participate in the evaluation process and in the decision making procedures.
The resolution referred to by the Deputy is one in which the Bundestag commits itself to examine in due course the extent to which the criteria for transition to the third stage of European Monetary Union are in fact met. This examination will be based on the same objective criteria as those on which the evaluation by all of the member states will be based.
The implications of this resolution are political and are for evaluation by the German Government. It is clear however that the German Government is proceeding to ratification of the Maastricht Treaty without reservations and that there is no question of a second ratification or of an opt out by Germany from monetary union. This was conveyed by the Foreign Minister to the Bundestag at the time of adoption of the resolution to which the Deputy refers.
