Part 1 of Essay
At their last summit in Madrid, the leaders of the European Union confirmed their intention to press ahead with Monetary Union according to the timetable and conditions laid out in the Maastricht Treaty. While the summit also filled in some of the detail of the transition to a single currency, including christening it wit ....

Part 2 of Essay
.... levels of unemployment in some parts of Europe because countries will no longer be free to devalue their currencies in order to maintain their international competitiveness. Are these fears justified? The force of the skeptics argument depends crucially on the time frame under consideration. First by removing the possibility of devaluation can a single currency condemn a region or nation to permanently higher unemployment than it would otherwise have? The answer is No. In the long-run both a nation's unemployment ....