Vol. 449 No. 7
90 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Finance the present situation on the development of a single EU currency and Economic and Monetary Union; the position of other member states, in particular the United Kingdom; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4455/95]
The Treaty on European Union sets out a timetable for movement to the third stage of Economic and Monetary Union and a single currency. Briefly, if a majority of member states meets the conditions, the third stage can begin in 1997; if a date for the start of the third stage has not been set by the end of 1997, the third stage will begin in 1999.
The focus of activity among member states at present is on meeting the treaty conditions — which relate to Government deficit, debt, inflation etc. — for moving to Economic and Monetary Union. The excessive deficit procedure set out in the treaty, which is designed to increase economic convergence among the member states, was implemented in 1994 for the first time: only two member states, Ireland and Luxembourg, were found not to have an excessive deficit.
As regards the position of member states, the United Kingdom and Denmark secured opt-outs from the Economic and Monetary Union provisions when the treaty was being negotiated.The UK Government has made clear it does not expect Economic and Monetary Union to be formed in 1997 and has said the UK will not join in 1997 even if it is. It has also said a decision on whether the UK should join in 1999 will be made closer to that date. The other ten states which were members when the treaty was negotiated accepted its Economic and Monetary Union provisions. The three new member states also made clear they accepted the Economic and Monetary Union provisions when they joined the European Union at the beginning of this year.
