The Euro-Train Is Late

COULD IT BE THAT THE EPIPHANY OF MAASTRICHT was only a year ago? As the heads of the European Community's 12 members convened in Edinburgh's royal Palace of Holyroodhouse, the issue was no longer whether the visionary 1991 draft treaty calling for political and monetary union by 1999 was off course. That much had been amply certified, first by Denmark's rejection, then by severe strains in an interim currency mechanism, by a festering budget crisis and finally, less than a week earlier, by a referendum in nonmember Switzerland that came down against experimenting even with a customs affiliation. The question facing the Edinburgh summit, said host John Major, was whether the Twelve could overcome "very real difficulties" to preserving Maastricht at all.

Very real indeed, but solvable still, the participants decided. Late Saturday, they cobbled together a deal allowing Denmark to opt out of major unified policies if it ratifies the treaty in a second vote. Negotiators also seemed headed toward a compromise on seven-year spending projections aimed at closing gaps in living standards among E.C. member countries. German Chancellor Helmut Kohl insisted that "the train to Europe will not be ( stopped." Perhaps not. But it is surely not running on time.