1.   But at German central bank insistence, they also laid down tough fiscal and budgetary criteria to determine which countries would qualify to become members.

2.   But some countries qualify that by insisting that states consent to any investigations of their citizens, a restriction that human rights groups deplore as fatally obstructionist.

3.   Countries will qualify for the plan only if their currencies have been within the exchange rate mechanism for at least two years.

4.   Eight other European countries will qualify automatically by winning their respective groups.

5.   European countries will qualify for the plan only if their currencies have been within the exchange rate mechanism for at least two years.

6.   European central bankers are no longer tiptoeing around the question of which countries will qualify for a single currency.

7.   Fischer said one way for the IMF to discourage reckless lending is to be vague about which countries would qualify for financial support.

8.   German and American policymakers tend to think that Central European countries might qualify for NATO closer to five years from now.

9.   In Madrid and Milan, meanwhile, bonds rose amid continuing confidence the countries will qualify for the single European currency.

10.   Instead the fund would require countries to qualify for future loans by opening up their banking systems and taking other steps that could help prevent a crisis.