European Monetary System

noun

1. a Common Market program designed to narrow the fluctuation of western European currencies against one another. : EMS

European Monetary System

noun

1. the system used in the European Union for stabilizing exchange rates between the currencies of member states and financing the balance-of-payments support mechanism. The original Exchange Rate Mechanism was formed in 1979 but superseded in 1999 when the euro was adopted as official currency of 11 EU member states. A new exchange rate mechanism (ERM II) based on the euro is used to regulate the currencies of participating states that have not adopted the euro EMS

Example Sentences

He had been instrumental in creating the 1972 fixed-exchange-rate arrangement that evolved in 1979 into the European Monetary System, the forerunner of today’s euro currency.

From Washington Post

His main contribution was the formation of the European Council in 1974 - bringing together the heads of states of all member countries - which, in 1979, pushed forward a European monetary system.

From BBC

In Europe, he forged a close relationship with former West German chancellor Helmut Schmidt and together they laid the foundations for the euro single currency, setting up the European Monetary System.

From Reuters

The files also contain papers from the October 1989 resignation of her chancellor, Nigel Lawson, which show Thatcher’s principal private secretary, Andrew Turnball, told her that she could turn his resignation her to advantage by exposing his policy of trying to get sterling into the European Monetary System by the back door by shadowing the Deutschmark despite her opposition.

From The Guardian

It was a year after Italy had joined the new European Monetary System, and, pressed on how to address global economic imbalances, Mr. Ciampi said “some kind of compromise” was necessary between Western economies, oil-producing nations and underdeveloped countries.

From Wall Street Journal