Economic and monetary union: Pillar of a federal polity

The Maastricht Treaty commitment to the economic and monetary union (Emu) follows a lengthy process of building up monetary integration, starling with the European Monetary System (1979), then, in the 1980s, the free movement of capital and integration of financial markets. Emu, representing the final stage of this this process, is seen by most federalists as a pillar in the structure of the European Union, contributing to its development by stages into a federal polity. With the economic and monetary union, the European Union's economic and environmental powers are becoming comparable lo those of some federations, and with institutions that have over lime acquired substantial federal elements, further reforms may well make the European Union into a federal system. This article identifies the forces, interests and methods involved in an incremental process that may be called a new federalism.