The recent informal meeting of the Council of Economic and Finance Ministers held in Valencia on 29-30 September provided Ministers with an opportunity to review preparations for Economic and Monetary Union. As it was an informal meeting, no decisions were taken. Nevertheless, the discussions which took place were positive for European Monetary Union.
In particular, Ministers reaffirmed the commitment to the treaty provisions on European Monetary Union and specifically to the strict application of the treaty convergence criteria and the treaty timetable.
There was also general agreement that the Council decision on which member states are to qualify for European Monetary Union will be taken on the basis of 1997 budget outturns rather than on the basis of the 1996 outurns or the 1997 forecasts. These 1997 outturns, obviously, will not be available until early in 1998 and it is then that the decision will be made. This will leave us with the remainder of 1998 to prepare for the irrevocable locking of exchange rates against the single currency which will take place from 1 January 1999.
We also reviewed progress on the preparatory work for the reference scenario to be presented to the European Council in Madrid next December. The background to this reference scenario is that the Cannes European Council called for a plan of the main steps needed for the introduction of the single currency. Work is proceeding at EU level and Ireland is participating fully in it. In addition, the European Monetary Institute, the forerunner of the European Central Bank, is preparing its contribution to the reference scenario and expects to finalise it by mid-November. Adoption of the reference scenario by the Madrid European Council will be a significant step on the road to European Monetary Union and the single currency.
Finally, at Valencia, we made progress on the choice of a name for the single currency—a sensitive issue which is of considerable interest to the public in every member state. While a final decision has not been made, we have significantly narrowed the differences of views on this question. A recommendation will be made to the Madrid Council meeting on this matter.