The book proposes a monetary policy regime that is suitable for the European Periphery on the road to the euro. The first part examines the relation between the eleven founding members of the EMU and countries staying out of the EMU - paying particular attention to the European Periphery that includes Greece and all those CEE transition countries which have recently applied for EU membership. The second part of the book argues against ERM-II participation for those countries. It stresses the limits in efficiency of an ERM-II arrangement in a world of increased international capital movements,...

At long last, monetary union has dawned in Europe. Eleven member states now share the common currency, forming a larger EMU than many observers, who thought that monetary union would initially be restricted to the core countries of the European Union, expected. The next item on the EMU agenda now is the question how to bring the remaining members of the European Union into the monetary union. I.A. Mourmouras and M. G. Arghyrou address this question from the perspective of Greece, and, with it, future European Union members such as Hungary and Poland. Their book presents a careful and...