page_title: History of the euro
section_title: Relaunch
hierarchical_section_title: History of the euro / Development / Relaunch
caption_attribution_description: Title: Bonn, Ministerpräsidenten mit EU-Kommissar Delors&#160; Extra information: Von links: Franz-Josef Strauß, Jacques Delors&#160; People in the image: Strauß, Franz Josef: Verteidigungsminister, Ministerpräsident von Bayern, Vorsitzender der CSU, Bundesrepublik Deutschland * Delors, Jacques: Präsident der EG-Kommission, Wirtschaftsminister, Frankreich (GND 119099993) For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. Factual corrections and alternative descriptions are encouraged separately from the original description. Additionally errors can be reported at this page to inform the Bundesarchiv. Alemannisch&#160;| Boarisch&#160;| беларуская&#160;| беларуская (тарашкевіца)‎‎&#160;| català&#160;| čeština&#160;| Deutsch&#160;| English&#160;| Esperanto&#160;| español&#160;| français&#160;| हिन्दी&#160;| hrvatski&#160;| italiano&#160;| 한국어&#160;| magyar&#160;| македонски&#160;| Plattdüütsch&#160;| polski&#160;| português&#160;| română&#160;| русский&#160;| slovenčina&#160;| slovenščina&#160;| suomi&#160;| svenska&#160;| українська&#160;| 中文（简体）‎&#160;| 中文（繁體）‎&#160;| +/− Original historic description:&#160; 19.5.1988 Die Regierungschefs der 11 Bundesländer der Bundesrepublik Deutschland führten mit dem Präsidenten der EG-Kommission Jacques Delors, Gespräche über die Zusammenarbeit zwischen den Ländern und der Europäischen Gemeinschaft. Die Bundesrepublik Deutschland ist innerhalb Europas der einzige Staat mit einem föderativen System - in der Landesvertretung Bayern
context_page_description: The Euro came into existence on 1 January 1999, although it had been a goal of the European Union and its predecessors since the 1960s. After tough negotiations, particularly due to opposition from the United Kingdom, the Maastricht Treaty entered into force in 1993 with the goal of creating an economic and monetary union by 1999 for all EU states except the UK and Denmark.
  The currency was formed virtually in 1999; notes and coins began to circulate in 2002. It rapidly took over from the former national currencies and slowly expanded behind the rest of the EU. In 2009, the Lisbon Treaty finalised its political authority, the Eurogroup, alongside the European Central Bank.
context_section_description: The Hannover European Council asked Commission President Jacques Delors to chair an ad hoc committee of central bank governors to propose a new timetable with clear, practical and realistic steps for creating an economic and monetary union. This way of working was derived from the Spaak method.
  France and the UK were opposed to German reunification, and attempted to influence the Soviet Union to stop it. However, in late 1989 France extracted German commitment to the Monetary Union in return for support for German reunification.
  The Delors report of 1989 set out a plan to introduce the EMU in three stages and it included the creation of institutions such as the European System of Central Banks (ESCB), which would become responsible for formulating and implementing monetary policy. It laid out monetary union being accomplished in three steps. Beginning the first of these steps, on 1 July 1990, exchange controls were abolished, thus capital movements were completely liberalised in the European Economic Community. Leaders reached agreement on currency union with the Maastricht Treaty, signed on 7 February 1992. It agreed to create a single currency, although without the participation of the United Kingdom, by January 1999.
  Gaining approval for the treaty was a challenge. Germany was cautious about giving up its stable currency, i.e., the German Mark, France approved the treaty by a narrow margin and Denmark refused to ratify until they got such an opt-out from monetary union as the United Kingdom, an opt-out that they maintain as of 2019. On 16 September 1992, known in the UK as Black Wednesday, the British pound sterling was forced to withdraw from the fixed exchange rate system due to a rapid fall in the value of the pound.
caption: President Delors' three-point plan laid out the path to EMU
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