When the Maastricht Treaty was ratified in September 1992, not only was the European Union founded, but plans for its construction of the European Monetary Union have been formalized. The plans, which included the creation of a European Central Bank, inextricably link all member states and their economies. The treaty defined the conditions for joining the economic agreement, called the "convergence criteria", which determined the eligibility of countries to join the union. Initially, eleven of the fifteen members of the European Union were qualified to join the Economic and Monetary Union (as it is officially called). Together, these countries would represent 21% of the global economy, ahead of the United States (at 17%) and Japan (10%). Among these eleven states, two were clearly the bastions of the continent's economic success: Germany and France. Both countries chose to join the EMU, but for very different reasons. France and its citizens saw this as an advantageous decision, while Germany joined in by forcing its hand. At the other end of the spectrum, Britain enjoys a permanent opt-out from the union, for even more significantly different reasons. Not only were they not prepared to adopt the measures they would need to join the Eurozone, but even if the vote went to referendum, the violently opposed citizens would not ratify it. The United Kingdom also feared losing its autonomy in a single currency system in which the rest of the constituents did not understand their unique traditions and conditions. When France chose to ratify the Maastricht Treaty in 1992, thus joining the EU and EMU, it did not do so on a whim. The country took the decision to join the union seriously and weighed...... middle of paper ...... Business, London. March 13, 1996. Banque De France. April 1996. Web. March 29, 2011. “Germany paves the way for EMU”. BBC News. April 2, 1998. Web. April 3, 2011. .European Union. Center for Economic Policy Research. EMU: German doubts. 1998. Internet. April 4, 2011. “Doubts, hesitations, determination”. The Economist February 12, 1998. The Economist. Internet. April 4, 2011. “Ready or not, here comes EMU. » Editorial. The Economist October 9, 1997. The Economist. Internet. May 4, 2011. “The United Kingdom and the Euro.” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Internet. May 8 2011. .