Emu Country Analysis: France

A SUPPLEMENT TO EUROMONEY

France
Paribas

France is one of the cornerstones of the EU and the drive towards monetary union. Emu without France is virtually inconceivable and we expect France to be a founding member of the monetary union in 1999. In this article, we examine France’s progress towards satisfying the Maastricht convergence criteria and focus on the French government bond market, which may well become the benchmark for the bond market in euros.

France is preparing its economy for Emu, requiring tough fiscal policy even while the economy slowed down considerably in late 1995 and early 1996.