Economic Convergence in a Multispeed Europe [Paperback]

What policies should be pursued by, first, the peripheral countries, like Greece and Eastern Europe, and, second, by the median countries, like Spain, to qualify for monetary union? How should the core countries coordinate their fiscal policies once in a monetary union? This book considers the widening and deepening process of European integration and is based on work carried out for DG II of the European Commission in 1992-05. The conclusions reached for the median countries were endorsed by the finance ministers in Verona in 1996.Acknowledgements - Foreword - Introduction - European Integration, the ERM and Maastricht - Convergence in the EU: A Multi-Speed Europe? - Issues in the Three Stages of Convergence - Timing of ERM Entry, Disinflation and Debt: Greece - The ERM and the Maastricht Criteria: Spain - Fiscal Policy Regimes in a Monetary Union - Conclusions - References - Appendix 1: Methodology and Models - Appendix 2: Parameters and Data Used in the Models - Index