STOLTENBERG URGES U.K. ENTRY INTO EMS
West German finance minister Gerhard
Stoltenberg suggested that the U.K. Should join the European
Monetary System (EMS) and also urged some member countries to
abandon their dual currency structures.
    Stoltenberg was speaking at a meeting of the Committee for
a Currency Union in Europe, whose key members are former West
German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt and former French President
Valery Giscard d'Estaing, founders of the EMS.
    He said, "One failing of the EMS is important countries,
like Great Britain, are not members. Other partners should give
up their split currencies or abandon broader fluctuations."
    EMS member Belgium has both a "financial" and a "commercial"
franc and the Italian lira is allowed to fluctuate by six pct
against other member currencies, compared with a permitted
fluctuation of only 2.25 pct for other currencies.
    According to a text of Stoltenberg's speech, the finance
minister also urged greater convergence of economic and
financial policies among European countries.
    He added that monetary stability should be a priority for
European countries and, with reference to the U.S. Dollar, he
said it was wrong to presume that a "permanent devaluation" was
the answer to economic problems.
    Stoltenberg said there were clear reasons to bring down the
dollar in 1985. "But an overshooting in the other direction now
brings the danger of a new inflationary push for the U.S. And
other countries whose currencies have declined," he added.
    He said such a development could also produce further
burdens for heavily indebted developing countries. An agreement
last month in Paris by industrial countries to stabilise the
dollar around current levels had acknowledged these risks, he
said.
 REUTER
