The creation of the euro will be the most important development in the evolution of the international monetary system since the widespread adoption of flexible exchange rates in the early 1970s.
The European Union is changing. Faster than many in Britain imagine. In the next 12 months, the EU faces a series of interlocking decisions which are likely to define the future of the continent for the next generation.
Is the transatlantic relationship an unhealthy dependency, a Cold War relic? That's the view of a growing number of people on both sides of the Atlantic who are increasingly questioning the relevance of the special link between Europe and America.
The European Union's Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) has been widely pilloried within Britain, particularly in the last two or three years, and cited as another example of Brussels' ineptitude and its prejudice against British interests.
Reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is back on the table once again - not that it has ever been absent for long. With the inter-governmental conference out of the way, the European Commission is due to present a major package of reforms during the summer of 1997.
Describing the old Common Market, Walter Hallstein, the Commission's first President, remarked: "Anyone who does not believe in miracles in European affairs is no realist".
There is an almost daily diet of frenzied debate about the future of this country in the European Union. Why add to it? Europe is after all not the most vital topic which people see as affecting their everyday lives.
