The Economic Monetary Union (EMU) was formed after a long history of attempts at political integration within Western Europe.

What began merely as idea in the 1950s has finally become a reality in the current decade. The process of integration initially started with the establishment of the Treaty of Rome, signed in 1957, which gave rise to the European Common Market, also known as the European Economic Community.

In 1971, the European Community Council sanctioned a three-stage plan for the achievement of an economic and monetary union to be achieved by 1980. However, after a few years, that plan was abandoned. In 1979, European Monetary System (EMS) was implemented. The scope of the European Monetary System was to set up a zone of monetary stability in Europe. The EMS was also seen as a clear step towards economic and monetary union.

During the next couple of years, the European Economic Community expanded from its initial size of six countries to twelve, leading to an even greater interest in creating currency stability.

The UK, Denmark and Irish Republic joined at the beginning of 1973, Greece in1981 and Portugal and Spain in 1986. In the same year The Singl

May 1998 Announcement of the countries joining EMU

4. Long term interest rates, observed over a period of one year, must not be above 2% of the average of the best three member states in term of price stability. (See fig. 1)

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 855
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)