and politically integrate in order to effectively compete.3. Undertaking a concerted and structured attempt at implementing a single currency was imperative.(Harris, 1999:70-71)In 1987, the Single European Act was passed, based upon the recommendations outlined in the Cockfield Report (Chulalongkorn University, 1999). This paper outlined a comprehensive program of 282 measures to be implemented to achieve a single market and the timetable, which must be adhered to ensure the actions success (Harris, 1999:71). The Single European Act intended to have a single market in place by 1993. It proposed the removal of all frontier controls between EC countries, the application of the principle of mutual recognition to product standards and open public procurement to non-national suppliers. In addition, the Act purported the need to lift barriers in the EC’s retail banking and insurance industry, the elimination of restrictions on foreign exchange transactions and the abolition of the limitations on cabotage (Hill, 2001:235-236). Pivotal to the Single European Act’s implementation was the substantial surrender by member states of their economic autonomy to the European System of Central Banks (ESCB). The ESCB would assume responsibility for coordinating macro-economic policies (particularly monetary). Essentially, it was the primary role of the ESCB to fix internal exchange rates to the single currency (the Euro), control foreign reserves, interest and inflation rates (Harris, 1999:82). This actual movement of the EC towards a single currency, was hampered by the failure of the Delors Report to establish the economic standards which the EC member states must achieve in order to ensure convergence into one business cycle (Barber, 1999). In 1993, The Treaty of Maastricht expanded upon the Single European Act, primarily establishing a timetable for the implementation of the single currency and most significantly the convergence criteria ...
