The Stability and Growth Pact consists of two European Union Council Regulations on the strengthening of the surveillance of budgetary positions and the surveillance and co-ordination of economic policies and on speeding up and clarifying the implementation of the excessive deficit procedure, and of a European Council Resolution on the Stability and Growth Pact adopted at the Amsterdam summit on 17 June 1997. It is intended to serve as a means of safeguarding sound government finances in Stage Three of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) in order to strengthen the conditions for price stability and for strong sustainable growth conducive to employment creation.