GERMAN Chancellor Helmut Kohl, reaffirming his Government's stand on European Monetary Union, has said the project should start oil schedule in January 1999 and strictly follow rules outlined in the Maastricht Treaty.
"The Chancellor insisted that both the stability criteria laid down by the Maastricht Treaty and the timetable have to be adhered to," Mr Kohl said. " Securing Germany's future also means continuing the work of European Integration with the completion of monetary and economic union," he added.
Mr Kohl said the recent squabble with the Bundesbank over Bonn's plans to revalue the bank's gold and currency reserves was no attack on the central bank's independence and that the reserves needed to be revalued before the euro's start.
"He stated clearly and categorically that the revaluation In no way constituted an infringement of the Bundesbank's independence," a spokesman said.
"Between the government and the Bundeshank there was full agreement that with transition to the euro, the Bundesbank's reserves, which were currently valued at a very low level, should be progressively revalued at a higher level," he added.
