4 APRIL 1998, Page 28

EMU peril

Sir: Bruce Anderson's article (Politics, 28 March) encapsulates the critical point that most if not all supporters of EMU miss to our peril. The point is that EMU is doomed to fail without a very high degree of inte- gration in fiscal and monetary policy as a prerequisite. This by necessity means that sovereignty over economic policy will have to be ceded. This in turn requires political integration, and some form of a federal government for Europe. Without having this in place before EMU is launched is like building a castle in the sand. That the first states to join EMU have shown that they can meet certain benchmarks, often through creative accounting, is a total irrel- evance, as time will prove.

Michael Sacher

7 Pembroke Walk, London W8