Editing Maastricht Treaty (section)

===The Maastricht criteria===
Having "resolved to achieve the strengthening and the convergence and to establish an economic and monetary union including,... a single and stable currency",<ref>TUE p. 3</ref> the Treaty ruled that "Member States shall regard their economic policies as a matter of common concern", and that the obligations assumed should be a matter for "mutual surveillance".<ref>TUE p. 25</ref> Commonly known as the Maastricht criteria,<ref>{{cite web |title=The IMF & the European Economic and Monetary Union – Factsheet |url=https://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/facts/emu.htm |access-date=16 July 2020 |website=www.imf.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Maastricht convergence criteria |url=https://www.nbb.be/en/monetary-policy/general-framework/institutional-framework-monetary-policy/maastricht-convergence|access-date=16 July 2020 |website=www.nbb.be}}</ref> these obligations represented the performance thresholds for member states to progress toward the third stage of European [[Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union|Economic and Monetary Union]] (EMU), the adoption the common currency (designated at the 1995 [[Madrid]] European Council as the [[Euro]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.europarl.europa.eu/summits/mad1_en.htm |title=Madrid European Council (12/95): Conclusions |publisher=European Parliament |access-date=28 September 2020}}</ref>

The four "convergence criteria", as detailed in attached protocols,<ref>TEU 183–186</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=EUR-Lex |title=Document 12008E121 |url=https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX%3A12008E121 |website=eur-lex.europa.eu |publisher=Publications Office of the European Union |access-date=21 September 2020}}</ref> impose control over inflation, public debt and the public deficit, exchange rate stability and domestic interest rates. With limited leeway granted in exceptional circumstances, the obligations are to maintain:

1. '''inflation''' at a rate no more than 1.5 percentage points higher than the average of the three best performing (lowest inflation) Member States;

2. a "budgetary position" that avoids "excessive" [[Government budget balance|'''government deficits''']] defined in ratios to gross domestic product (GDP) of greater than 3% for [[Government budget deficit|annual deficits]] and 60% for gross [[government debt]];

3. the '''[[exchange rate]]''' of the national currency within "the normal fluctuation margins by the [[European Exchange Rate Mechanism|exchange-rate mechanism]] of the [[European Monetary System]] without severe tensions for at least the last two years"; and

4. nominal long-term '''interest rates''' no more than 2 percentage points higher than in the three Member States with the lowest inflation.