Deutsche Mark über alles: the genesis of the Maastricht Treaty
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5944/hdp.40.2022.39035Keywords:
Maastricht Treaty, European Union, German reunification, Bundesbank, interest ratesAbstract
This article argues that the tempo and forma of the negotiations leading to the 1992 Treaty on European Union can be explained by the aggressive monetary policy deployed by the Bundesbank to cope with the fusion of the two German republics after November 1989. The monetary union references of the declarations by the governing bodies of the communities since 1969 had no practical implication other than increasing direct support for macroeconomic convergence or alleviating the effects of persistent divergence. They did not need to lead to a common currency. Nor did the members of the Community have to respond to German unification by means of a European Union.
If this happened, it was for one reason: The increase in German basic interest rates in response to both the inflationary impact of the first unification measures and the need to attract unprecedented volumes of foreign savings to finance industrial reconversion in the eastern Länder. German monetary policy was counterproductive for many if it remained in the independent hands of the Bundesbank, but the Bundesbank was reluctant to give in unless it secured the essential objective of price stability.
Maastricht was the result of a sophisticated and urgent exercise of shared sovereignty.
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