1/2 December 1980

Luxembourg European Council

The Heads of State or Government of the European Community agree

·        to extend the European Monetary System (EMS) as it stands

·        to press ahead with work on the definitive phase

·        to examine ways of expanding the use of the European currency unit (ECU)
  -   Press release
 

9 December 1980

Decision of the Central Bank Governors of the Community to renew the swaps in gold and dollars against the ECU for a period of two years, i.e. until March 1983, unless a decision is taken on the definitive institutional changeover of the EMS before that date

          - Addendum (February 1981) to Compendium 1979
 

16 February 1981

Council Decision adjusting the Community loan mechanism designed to support the balance of payments of Member States;  among other things, the authorised ceiling on borrowings is fixed at ECU 6 billion
          - OJ L 73, 19.3.1981
 

16 March 1981

Council Regulation (EEC) No 682/81 adjusting the Community loan mechanism designed to support the balance of payments of Member States
          -   OJ L 73, 19.3.1981
 

22 March 1981

Agreement of the Ministers and Central Bank Governors of the Member States on:

·        a 6% devaluation of the Italian lire against all the other EMS currencies with effect from 23 March 1981

·        a 2.54% revaluation of the ECU against all the EMS currencies with a view to facilitating an agreement on agricultural prices and their corresponding values in national currency

          - EC Bulletin, No 3‑1981, p. 20
 

23‑24 March 1981

Maastricht European Council takes the view as regards the principles of indexation in the Community that consideration should be given to adjusting these mechanisms.

          - EC Bulletin, No 7/8‑1981, p. 27
   

29/30 June 1981

Luxembourg European Council agrees to present to the Western Economic Summit a united front as regards the problems posed by the level and instability of interest and exchange rates.

          - EC Bulletin, No 6‑1981, p. 8
 

1 July 1981

Commission Recommendation to the Italian authorities advocating a number of economic policy measures that the country should take

          - OJ L 189, 11.7.1981
 

22 July 1981

Commission Recommendation to the Belgian Government on the need to correct the growing public finance and current balance‑of‑payments imbalances

          - OJ L 228, 13.8.1981
 

23 September 1981

Commission Decision authorising the Italian Republic to maintain in force until 28 February 1982 the requirement of a deposit when purchases of foreign currency are made, subject to certain conditions (measure repealed by the Italian authorities on 8 February 1982 - EC Bulletin, No 1‑82, p. 16)

          - OJ L 296, 15.10.1981
 

4 October 1981

Agreement of the Ministers and Central Bank Governors of the Member States (EMS realignment) on:

·        a 5.5% revaluation of the German mark and the Dutch guilder against the Belgian and Luxembourg francs, the Danish krone and the Irish pound

·        a 3% devaluation of the French franc and the Italian lira against those same currencies

          -   EC Bulletin, No 9‑1981, p. 17
 

21 February 1982

Agreement of the Ministers and Central Bank Governors of the Member States on:

·        an 8.5% devaluation of the Belgian and Luxembourg francs and a 3% devaluation of the Danish krone against the other EMS currencies

·        each currency's new central rates against the ECU according to the new bilateral rates and each currency's weighting in the definition of the ECU basket

          - EC Bulletin, No 2‑1981, p. 20
 

12 June 1982

Agreement of the Ministers and Central Bank Governors of the Member States (EMS realignment) on:

·        a 4.25% revaluation of the German mark and the Dutch guilder against the Belgian and Luxembourg francs, the Danish krone and the Irish pound

·        a 5.75% devaluation of the French franc and a 2.75% devaluation of the Italian lira against those same currencies

·        each currency's new central rate against the ECU

          - EC Bulletin, No 6‑1982, p. 22
 

18 October 1982

Council Decision on the continued interest subsidies for certain loans granted under the EMS, the purpose being to allow New Community Instrument (NCI) operations to continue to benefit from the system of interest subsidies

          - EC Bulletin, No 10‑1982, p.16
 

17 December 1982

Council Decision renewing the medium‑term financial assistance mechanism until 31 December 1984 unless implementation of the definitive phase of EMS takes place before that date

          - OJ L 368, 28.12.1982
 

7 February 1983

The Council adopts a joint approach under the New Community Instrument (NCI III) providing for a ceiling on borrowings of ECU 3 billion that will be called by tranches.  The tranches will be authorised by the Council, acting by qualified majority.  The proceeds of the borrowings will be lent to finance investment projects consistent with the Community's priority objectives in the energy and infrastructure sectors and undertaken mainly by SMEs in industry and other productive sectors, taking account inter alia of their regional impact and the need to combat unemployment.

          - OJ C 28, 3.2.1983
 

21 March 1983

Agreement of the Ministers and Central Bank Governors of the Member States on a readjustment of central rates within the EMS (changes in bilateral central rates:  +5.5% German mark, +3.5% Dutch guilder, +2.5% Danish krone, +1.5% Belgian and Luxembourg francs, ‑2 .5% French franc and Italian lira, -3.5% Irish pound).

On foreign‑exchange markets, this corresponds to a revaluation of the German mark against the Dutch guilder (2%), the Danish krone (3%), the Belgian and Luxembourg francs (4%), the French franc and the Italian lira (8%) and the Irish pound (9%);  for the other currencies, the revaluation or devaluation corresponds to the respective difference between the adjustment rates given.

          - EC Bulletin, No 3‑1983, p. 26
 

13 May 1983

Communication of the Commission on 'promoting the international role of the ECU' (COM/1983/274/final, 13.5.1983) proposing, among others, to give to the ECU a foreign currency status in all Member States.
          - EC Bulletin, No 5‑1983, p. 17

16 May 1983

Council Decision concerning a Community loan of ECU 4 billion in favour of the French Republic under the Regulation on Community loans (83/298/EEC)

          -   OJ L 153, 11.6.1983
 

17 May 1983

Adjustment of ECU central rates following a change in the notional central rate of sterling in the currency basket but without any change in the bilateral rates between the EMS currencies:  the 7.3% revaluation of sterling's notional central rate gives rise to a 1.2% revaluation of the ECU against the other currencies in the basket
        -  EC Bulletin, No 5‑1983, p. 17
 

13 June 1983

The Council authorises the Commission to contract a loan of ECU 1.5 million for the purpose of promoting investment within the Community under NCI III (particularly in the energy and infrastructure sectors and for SMEs with a view to disseminating innovation and new techniques).

          - OJ L 164, 23.6.1983
 

4 June 1984

The Council adopts the Commission proposal to raise the ceiling of the Community loan mechanism (from ECU 6 billion to ECU 8 billion) and the ceiling for a Member State's indebtedness (max. 50%) and to abolish the link between balance‑of‑payments difficulties justifying a loan and the increase in oil prices.

          - OJ C 167, 27.6.1984
 

15 September 1984

The Council decides, pursuant to point 2.3 of the Resolution of the European Council of 5 December 1978 on the establishment of the European Monetary System, to revise the composition of the ECU.

Given the changes in each currency's relative weighting in the basket and given the inclusion of the Greek drachma, the ECU is defined with effect from 17 September1984 as the sum of the following amounts:

                                                (15 September 1984)

German mark               0.719                           32.0%

French franc                 1.31                             19.0%

Pound sterling               0.0878                         15.0%

Italian lira                      140                              10.2%

Dutch guilder                0.256                           10.1%

Belgian franc                 3.71                             8.2%

Danish krone                0.219                           2.7%

Greek drachma             1.15                             1.3%

Irish pound                   0.00871                       1.2%

Luxembourg franc         0.14                             0.3%

ECU                            1                                  100%

          -   OJ L 247, 16.9.1984
 

10 December 1984

The Council, acting on a Commission proposal (COM (84)679 final), decides to renew for two years (unless implementation of the definitive phase of the EMS takes place during that period) the medium‑term financial assistance mechanism.

          - OJ L 341, 29.12.1984
 

29/30 March 1985

The Brussels European Council decides to set in place a single market within the Community by 1992.

          - EC Bulletin, No 3‑1985, p. 22
 

10 June 1985

Formal adoption by the Committee of Central Bank Governors of the changes in the operation of the EMS and in the rules governing the activities of the European Monetary Cooperation Fund (EMCF) following the agreements reached in March 1985 and at the informal ministerial meeting in Palermo on 14/15 April.  The changes make in particular for improvements in certain aspects of the use of the ECU by the central banks (more representative ECU interest rate, change in ECU holdings against foreign currencies, ECU for "other holders", 100% acceptability of the ECU for a creditor central bank with holdings lower than the volume allocated).  The rules enter into force on 1 July 1985. 

          - EC Bulletin, No 4‑1985, p.14, and No 6‑1985, p. 33
 

1 July 1985

Following the inclusion of the drachma in the ECU on 17 September 1984, the Bank of Greece joins the EMS on 1 July 1985 but will not take part for the time being in the exchange‑rate mechanism.

          - EC Bulletin, No 6‑1985, p. 33
 

20 July 1985

Agreement by the Central Bank Governors and Ministers of the Member States on the 8% devaluation of the Italian lira against the other EMS currencies (Italian lira ‑6%, the other currencies +2%).  The new rates took effect on 22 July 1985.

          -  EC Bulletin, No 7/8‑1985, p. 26
 

28 October 1986

President Delors presents to the Intergovernmental Conference convened to amend the EEC Treaty a paper on the Community's monetary capacity. 

          - EC Bulletin, No 10‑1985, p. 22
 

28 October 1986

Within the framework of the EMS, the Council adopts a Regulation on the use of the ECU by other holders.

          - EC Bulletin, No 10‑1985, p. 22
 

18 November 1985

The Council approves the granting of a Community loan of  ECU 1.75 billion to the Greek Republic under the Community loan mechanism designed to support Member States' balances of payments.

          - EC Bulletin, No 11‑1985, p. 33
 

2/3 December 1985

The Luxembourg European Council reaches agreement on certain amendments to the existing Treaties;  in the economic and monetary field, a reference to EMU appears in the preamble to the text amending the Rome Treaty and a new article "cooperation in economic and monetary policy" is added before Article 103.

          - EC Bulletin, No 11‑1985, p. 11
 

6 April 1986

Agreement of the Central Bank Governors and Ministers of the Member States on a realignment of the EMS central rates:  German mark and Dutch guilder +3%, Belgian and Luxembourg francs and Danish krone +1%, French franc -3%.  The new rates take effect on 7 April 1986.

          - EC Bulletin, No 4‑1986, p. 26
 

2 August 1986

Agreement of the Central Bank Governors and Ministers of the Member States on the 8% devaluation of the Irish pound against the other EMS currencies.

          - EC  Bulletin, No 7‑1986, p. 20
 

17 November 1986

Council Directives extending Community obligations relating to the liberalisation of capital movements;  the following operations are concerned:

·        long‑term credits linked to commercial transactions;

·        transactions involving the acquisition of sECUrities not dealt in on a stock exchange (shares, bonds or units of undertakings for collective investments in transferable sECUrities (UCITS));

·        admission of sECUrities of a company from one Member State on the capital market of another Member State.

          - EC Bulletin, No 11‑1986, p. 7
 

17 November 1986

The Council authorises the Commission and the EIB to borrow on capital markets ECU 1.5 billion in two tranches under the New Community Instrument (NCI IV:  loans for SMEs).

          - EC Bulletin, No 11‑1986, p. 19
 

12 January 1987

Agreement of the Central Bank Governors and Ministers of the Member States on a realignment of EMS central rates;  on the basis of the bilateral rates, the German mark and the Dutch guilder are revalued by 3% and the Belgian and Luxembourg francs by 2%.

          - Communiqué from the Monetary Committee, 12.1.1987
 

23 April 1987

Publication of the Padoa‑Schioppa report on "Efficiency, stability and equity:  A strategy for the evolution of the economic system of the European Community", which had been requested  by the Commission following the enlargement to twelve Member States and in view of the objective of creating a market without internal frontiers by 1992.

          - EC Bulletin, No 4‑1987, p. 7
 

12 May 1987

The Bank of Spain signs an instrument of accession to the Agreement on the EMS of 13 March 1979, but this does not for the time being imply participation by the peseta in the exchange‑rate and intervention mechanisms.

          - EC Bulletin, No 5‑1987, p. 14
 

1 July 1987

Entry into force of the Single European Act
 

12 September 1987

Strengthening of the EMS as agreed in Basle and Nyborg (Denmark)

   (i)        Changes to the operating rules of the EMS:

·     one‑month extension of the very short‑term financing facility (VSTF) to three and a half months

·     intermarginal intervention accepted by the issuing bank of the intervention currency qualifies for the VSTF

·     increase from 50% to 100% in the acceptability of the ECU by central banks, subject to certain conditions

  (ii)        Strengthening of the surveillance arrangements

·     more detailed analysis of economic indicators by the Monetary Committee

·     more active use by the Committee of Central Bank Governors of the instruments available to it (intermarginal intervention, rate adjustments)

         - EC Bulletin, No 9‑1987, p. 12
 

10 November 1987

The Bank of Portugal signs an instrument of accession to the Agreement on the EMS of 13 March 1979, but this does not for the time being imply participation by the escudo in the exchange‑rate and intervention mechanisms.

          - EC Bulletin, No 5‑1987, p. 15
 

24 June 1988

Council Decision establishing a single medium‑term financial assistance (MTFA) mechanism for Member States' balances of payments:  merger of the two previous mechanisms:

–        medium‑term financial assistance 

–        Community loan mechanism

          - EC Bulletin, No 6‑1988, p. 23