Zusammenfassung:
Joining the 'Eurozone' - Economic and Monetary Union - is perceived as a very important step in the process of European integration. For the new members of the enlarged Union: Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Malta, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, participation in EMU is an integral part of their membership obligations (acquis communautaire). They cannot opt out, as it was in the case of the United Kingdom, Denmark and Sweden. This paper discusses number of issues connected with joining the 'Euro', such as the Exchange Rate Mechanism, two years of speculation exposure, the Maastricht conditions, the fiscal shock of accession, and exchange rate real revaluation.