European economic and monetary union - Consequences of the European Community's Treaty on European Union

Recommendation 1195 (1992)

Author(s):

Parliamentary Assembly

Origin

Assembly debate on 6 October 1992 (19th Sitting) (see Doc. 6652, report of the Committee on Economic Affairs and Development, Rapporteur : Mr Jessel). Text adopted by the Assembly D 6 October 1992 (19th Sitting).

Thesaurus

1. The economic and monetary union (EMU) foreseen in the European Community's Treaty on European Union signed on 7 February 1992 at Maastricht will have far-reaching consequences for its member states, for it foresees the replacement of national currencies by a single European one, as well as the latter's management under a European central bank. EMU will also greatly affect all other countries in Europe and beyond. The role of the Council of Europe is to enhance a constructive co-operation between member states of the European Community and the rest of Europe.

2. It is a central concern of the Parliamentary Assembly, representing as it does the parliaments of the Council of Europe's twenty-seven member states, to promote economic co-operation at the level of all its member states, in conformity with the aim of the Council of Europe's Statute to facilitate the economic and social progress of its members.

3.

3.1 The signatory states of the Maastricht Treaty maintain that EMU will not only facilitate trade by doing away with currency fluctuations and transaction costs, but also attract foreign investment to participating countries, promote economic growth, enhance economic and therefore political stability, and prepare the ground for the eventual political unification of Europe.

3.2 Many people, however, contend that member states of the European Community and their populations will not be ready to abandon their national currency and their management thereof, because economic policies, traditions and conditions will remain too dissimilar for EMU to function ; or because they want to retain a measure of economic sovereignty.

4. The Assembly, in conclusion, recommends that the Committee of Ministers invite the governments concerned to take the following objectives regarding economic and monetary union into consideration :

4.1 the pronounced economic divisions in Europe and the sense of exclusion on the part of countries left outside the Union should not be further exacerbated ;

4.2 Community institutions should be made sufficiently democratic and should always remain so -democracy's hallmark being that parliament, and not government or commissions, has legislative power and control ;

4.3 it should be ensured that the richer countries or regions, to which investments are likely to be increasingly concentrated as a result of EMU, show sufficient support for poorer countries and regions ;

4.4 it should be ensured that EMU will have positive consequences for developing countries.