€uro €ssentials

Stability and Growth Pact … Euro-II … convergence … ERM II …

Even before it has arrived, the debate over Europe's new currency has been clouded by jargon and misinformation. This handbook brings together all the different strands of the euro issue and explains them in a way that can be easily understood byu anyone from a casual reader to a business leader.

It shows what impact the euro will have from Day 1, as well as explaining in detail how the European Central bank has been put together and how it will conduct daily business. It also explores the profound ramifications of the pact to enforce budgetary discipline on member governments and explains what will happen in January 2002 when the new notes and coins come into circulation.

There is, despite the best efforts of so many of the pundits to convince the public otherwise, no great mystery to it all — as you will discover once you have read this book.

• Introduction

1. Dawn of a new era
2. European Central bank
3. The ECB at work
4. Taxing and spending
5. Living on the edge
6. The euro and the world
7. The end of the beginning

Describes EMU and its effects on the member states.