EU and EMU Accession - Whether and How the Decisions Differ?

The author presents the criretia of and prospects for the EU candidate countries joining the European Monetary Union. Enlargement taken as a decided question, she considers EMU accession the “second gate” for candidates. The status of Denmark and the UK are seen as exceptions, the way of which new members may not follow - thus their sooner or later joining the EMU is an obligatory task. The candidates have to meet the convergence criteria, regarding which stress is put on the difference of nominal and real convergence. So, during the at least two years preparing period between EU and EMU accession, strictly supervised “convergence programmes” would be conducted. Financial and economic liberalisation criteria of accession are also expressed. The author presents the main points of the past three stages of introducing EMU, according to which the question for new members of when to join the EMU can be more precisely answered. She focuses on the balance of interests of members and candidates, the trap of early accession, the case of asymmetric, country-specific shocks and also on the problem of giving up national exchange-rate policies. She concludes for new members that the consideration of the ability of fulfilling the above criteria is indispensable for determining a realistic plan of joining the EMU.