Negotiating the Maastricht Treaty

Abstract

Maastricht" means the end of a major struggle on the monetary union which had started at the Hague summit in December 1969 and which had been intensified since 1984 by French pressure against German reluctance. The French had several reasons to urge that such a union should be achieved: first, they saw it as a necessary element of a policy of economic growth on the European level; second, they strove for independence from the erratic movements of the dollar and the US policy of interest; third they aimed at destroying the hegemonic position of the German Bundesbank. German resistance resulted from the long-term fear of an "inflation union" and the institutional self-interest of the Bundesbank whose directors saw no reason to abandon their comfortable position. At the same time, Maastricht was the provisional end of an even much longer debate on a Political Union, the question of a Common Foreign and Security Policy and the institutional design of a united Europe. This debate had started with Charles de Gaulle's proposal for a Political Union in September 1960 and had led to many crises, sharp confrontations and tough struggles.