The volume traces the current policy dilemmas facing the Union, the topics around which the 1996 Intergovernmental Conference has been crystallizing, the policy dilemmas of monetary union, the lessons to be drawn from assisting the transition economies, the core issues of accession negotiations, and the adoption of a pre-accession strategy in the interest of the potential members as well as the present Union. It is also argued that in the process the assistance efforts to economies in transition that cannot join any time soon or others that will not join should be modulated in the same spirit in order to better reflect the interests of the Union.