FRANCO-GERMAN COOPERATION AT THE EARLY STAGES OF EUROPEAN MONETARY INTEGRATION

Abstract

The article examines the prerequisites for european monetary integration after the World War II, as well as the stages of the formation of the EU Economic and Monetary Union. The aim of the study is to identify the internal and external factors of european monetary integration, as well as the role of Franco-German cooperation in this process. As a result of the study, the author comes to the conclusion that the european monetary integration was facilitated by both external factors: the influence of the United States in the post-war recovery of destroyed european economy and financial system, as well as the collapse of the Bretton Woods system of fixed exchange rates; and internal: the successful economic integration of countries and the further desire to remove all barriers, including financial ones, to internal trade. Franco-German cooperation played a significant role in european monetary integration. The positions of the countries on the basic principles of the functioning of the euro zone differed: France defended the flexibility of the monetary union, and Germany, fearing to lose control over the stability of the economy, advocated the harmonization of the economic policies of states. Nevertheless, the countries were able to form a common position and to end the formation of the Economic and Monetary Union on time, introducing the euro.