What is the Maastricht Treaty?

Formally known as the Treaty on European Union, the Maastricht Treaty is the international agreement that is responsible for creating the European Union (EU) signed back in 1991 that came into effect in 1993.

The European Union is a group that has 28 countries operating as a unified political and economic block. Out of these 28, 19 countries are using the Euro as the official currency.

Understanding Maastricht Treaty

In December 1991, the heads of government of the states that were making the European Community (EC) approved the Maastricht Treaty. Turned out a hot and much-debated topic in several areas, the treaty needed voters from every country to approve the EU.

This agreement ended up with the European Union creation, which has been amended and altered by other treaties ever since the introduction. It was on February 7, 1992, when the leaders of 12 countries, such as Spain, Portugal, Greece, United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark, West Germany, Netherlands, France, Luxembourg, Italy and Belgium signed the treaty. However, it didn’t become effective until November 1, 1993.

One of the priorities that this treaty had was economic convergency and policy of EU member state economies. Thus, the treaty came up with a time for the development and implementation of the EMU.

This EMU came into the picture to include a common monetary and economic union, a common currency and a central banking system. And then, the European Central Bank (ECB) was developed in 1998.

Towards the end of the same year, conversion rates between currencies of member states were fixed, which led to the introduction of the euro currency creation that started circulating in 2002. The convergence criteria for those countries that were willing to join EMU comprised stable exchange rates, responsible and reasonable interest rates, sustainable public finance, and reasonable price stability.

Furthermore, this treaty also had some of the significant impact areas. Out of these, citizenship was one. In creating the European Union (EU), the treaty granted EU citizenship to everybody who had the member state citizenship.

It allowed people to run for European Parliament and local office elections in the EU country where they were residing, irrespective of the nationality they had.