Publication

This paper discusses the intentions and positions of Germany's central bank, the Bundesbank, with respect to the country's monetary union in 1990 and its adoption of European Monetary Union (EMU) in 1992. The paper introduces the Bundesbank’s institutional and legal framework as well as its strategies. Subsequently, it addresses German Economic, Monetary and Social Union (GEMSU) and EMU, focusing on popular misperceptions, the Bundesbank’s real position and its political successes. The author concludes that the Bundesbank was not fundamentally opposed to GEMSU or to EMU.