On 13 June 1997, Ferdinando Riccardi, Editor-in-Chief of Agence Europe in Brussels, looks ahead to the decisions due to be taken at the Amsterdam European Council on 16 and 17 June and welcomes the introduction of the Stability and Growth Pact, emphasising its importance in the light of the transition to the third stage of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) on 1 January 1999 and of the introduction of the single currency.