EMU: Will Belgium clear the final hurdle?

Belgium's economic plans rest on successful entry into European monetary union. It's well on its way - but it doesn't meet Maastricht's debt criteria. Laura Covill reports.

A SUPPLEMENT TO EUROMONEY – MAY 1996

Belgium’s leap of faith

There is a sense of now-or-never in Brussels. The Belgian government believes that without fundamental reforms its small economy will not operate effectively in a Europe which has introduced a single currency and thrown open regional marketplaces to foreign competition. Limited ambitions which were realistic 10 years ago now look inadequate against the economic and market changes Belgium is about to face.

Belgium’s economy and local capital markets stand to lose substantially from Emu unless they change now.