What is EMU?

EMU stands for "Economic and Monetary Union".

EMU is used to refer to the establishment of a European Single Currency. The EMU is a currency where all the participating members are countries of the European Union. The member countries share a single currency (the Euro). The first stage of EMU started in July 1990. It was mainly characterised by the free movement of capital within the European Union. The Euro now exists as a banking currency and paper financial transactions and foreign exchange are made in Euros.

EMU is thought as the introduction of a single currency, this is not the end of the process toward full European economic union, but it is the beginning. Commentators typically predict that it will take 15 to 20 years for a full economic union to evolve.

For the last stage of EMU all EU countries should participate. However as of yet Cypern, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden, and UK have not joined in the monetary union.

Source: Internet