The Road from Maastricht

DI QUIRICO, ROBERTO

2008-01-01

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Abstract

The European monetary integration is such a case where different national values, ideas and ways of working, have been subsumed, for the sake of unity, to one of these, specifically the German model. These different values rose by different “currency cultures” developed in the EMU member states since the early post-war period. The specific situation at the time of Maastricht Treaty favoured the predominance of the German currency culture. There is no reason this supremacy should survive forever. The reform of the Stability and Growth Pact in 2005 proves that it is possible to move away from the principles of Maastricht.