The idea of an economic and monetary union in Europe started well before the Treaties establishing the European Communities after the Second World War (for example, already in the League of Nations, Gustav Stresemann asked in 1929 for a European currency against the background of an increased economic division due to a number of new nation states in Europe after the Treaty of Versailles. (Historical documentation of EMU)

The historic background is presented under two specific angles; the first is looking at the provisions as to economic and monetary policy aspects in the text of the original treaty and the evolution of these provisions in the following treaty changes. The second view is dealing with the three political attempts (1969 - 1979 - 1989) to realise an economic and monetary union by stages which finally succeed in 1999.

 

• How the idea of an economic and monetary union was developed in the Treaties
• The three attempts to create a single currency in Europe