Nominal interest rates are no more than 2 percentage points higher than those of the three Lowest Inflation States. The third pillar is based on police and judicial cooperation (PJC) in criminal matters, such as terrorism, illegal immigration, asylum policy, drug trafficking, international crime, etc. The creation of Europol (European Police Office), the embryo not of the future European police, was one of the most significant changes in this area. It should also be pointed out that in 1990, the Schengen Agreement, which you call the Schengen Agreements, which developed the Schengen Agreements, was signed to build a borderless European Union. The difficult ratification of the Maastricht Treaty The ratification of the Maastricht Treaty by national parliaments was full of difficulties. The symbolic year 1992 was met by three crises which slowed the pro-European momentum generated by the signing of the TUE in Maastricht on 7 February 1992: first, Europe experienced a serious and profound economic crisis, prompting governments and public opinion to focus on economic problems leaving aside European integration; Secondly, there have been serious monetary tensions that have called into question the European monetary system and the objective of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU); Thirdly, in the Yugoslav crisis, the EU seemed incapable of implementing a common foreign and security policy and watched helplessly as war returned to our continent after many years of peace. It was under these conditions that the first ratification process took place in Denmark. The no to the Maastricht Treaty won in a referendum by a difference of 50,000 votes. A Eurosceptic wave has spread to other member countries.

However, ratifications of the treaty gradually took place in other countries. In France, the YES won with just under 51.4% of the vote for the TUE. Negotiations with Denmark have begun and the Copenhagen government has been granted a specific protocol, known in EU language as the opt-out clause, i.e. the possibility of not following other members when the third phase of EMU has begun – a similar clause was granted in the UK when the TUE was signed – and on all defence issues.