In April 2000 six West African countries declared their intention to proceed to monetary union among the non-CFA franc countries of the region by January 2003, as a first step toward a wider monetary union including all the ECOWAS countries in 2004. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate whether a monetary union makes economic sense, to discuss the institutional requirements for successful monetary union and to consider how best the political momentum for a union can be channeled toward a fundamental improvement in underlying policies.