Vers une monnaie commune en Europe ?

European monetary union has again been the subject of debate in recent months. The supporters are mainly French, the reasons being that France wishes, on the one hand, to assert its will to manage a strong national currency and, on the other hand, to limit the monetary leadership of West Germany. The latter would be in favour of monetary unification only if monetary policy would meet the standard of the German one. Three kinds of processes can be distinguished. First, those favouring the development of a European parallel currency competing with national currencies. Second, those opting for the progressive shift of monetary powers from national monetary authorities to an autonomous European institution. The third is completion of the union without any transitory stage. Whichever process is considered, the gains — such as easier capital flows within the Community and a decrease in French interest rates — cannot be assessed without taking into account the potential dangers — monetary authorities that would pursue a price stability objective rather than economic growth — as well as the uncertainties due to the fact that monetary union, depending on its institutional characteristics, could mean that budgetary policies would be more autonomous or, conversely, would be more constrained by a monetary discipline.