Special Meeting of EC Leaders Set for 1990

Overriding British objections, leaders of the European Community agreed today to hold a special conference late next year to press their plans for a tight economic and monetary union.

The decision, on the opening day of a two-day summit in this historic city on the German border, paves the way for the 12 community nations to revise the EC’s founding treaty and to adopt radical plans that would lead to a joint currency and European-wide central bank system.

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of Britain has been an outspoken opponent of the sweeping proposals to make major changes in the way in which the nations conduct economic and monetary policies.

“But we expected this,” a British official said. “It was a low-key discussion, and a decision they were perfectly entitled to take,” said the official, who requested anonymity.

West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, who had earlier appeared reluctant to support France’s call for an early conference, sealed the deal when he told his colleagues that he would back the 1990 date.