Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on European Monetary Union – 25 October 1990

Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on European Monetary Union on 25th October 1990.

Mr. Beith To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what progress he has made during discussions on European monetary union; and if he will make a statement.

Sir David Steel To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on progress during recent discussions on his proposals for a European currency unit.

Mr. Major Since I set out our proposals for a hard ecu on 20 June, I have met my fellow Finance Ministers a number of times to promote the United Kingdom approach to progress beyond stage 1. A consensus is emerging that, as I have argued, more convergence in economic performance is needed before moving beyond stage 1; and there is growing support for our view that objective criteria are needed to determine when sufficient convergence has been achieved.

I will continue to argue forcefully for the United Kingdom approach in the run-up to the intergovernmental conference.