The EMU was created in three discrete developmental stages between 1990 and 1999,
and was based on German preferences for strict fiscal policies. The convergence criteria for
countries hoping to enter the EMU after the completion of the third and final stage includes four
main points: (1) price stability (average inflation rate of no more than 1.5% above the average of
the three best-performing Member States); (2) low interest rates (no more than 2% above the
three best Member States); (3) minimal annual budgetary deficits (not exceeding 3% GDP) and
debts (not exceeding 60% GDP); and (4) currency stability (within the narrow band of exchange
rates, with fluctuations of less than 2.5% around the central rate for at least two years with no
competitive devaluations). In addition, the Stability and Growth Pact, a Franco-German deal
established in 1997, aims to ensure budgetary discipline. Near the debut of the single currency in
1999, Germany proposed a Stability Pact “to prevent governments from running large deficits
once [the] EMU was launched. This was opposed by the French socialist government, which had
been elected on a platform that was critical of the monetarist [neoliberal] design of EMU”