Hi Gary. No, the Swiss will not be a part of the original April 1998 group. The population apparently wouldn't go for it, given that little country's tradition of independant monetary mindedness.
But the people who matter know that little Switzerland, like the rest of Europe, will ultimately have no choice if the rest of Europe, especially the biggest economy, Germany, go EMU. For example, if the EMU is weak, and the Swiss franc soars in relation, Swiss business would have a uniform disadvantge in what is probably the majority of their market (the domestic market beign tiny). This would suggest pegging the franc to the EMU, which is the same as conversion. In either case, Bonn controls, not Zurich.
Once the EMU exists, it will be hard for the rest to resist for long. The Swiss proposals are long term. They don't intend to sell tomorrow.
By the way, I think it's interesting that while the press has focused on the Australians, Netherlands and the Swiss, the world's major, and soon to be all powerful curencies, U.S., Japan and Germany, haven;t hinted at selling and if anything have emphatically stated the opposite.
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