On 9 October 1978, the Conservative daily newspaper La Libre Belgique considers the operation of the European Monetary System (EMS) and reveals the technical limitations of the unit of account used by the Nine: the ECU.

On 7 December 1978, the German daily newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung describes the operation of the new European Monetary System and assesses the role played by the accounting currency of the Nine: the ECU.

In March 1979, the French cartoonist, Plantu, illustrates the establishment of the European Monetary System (EMS) and outlines the role played by the new currency unit of the Nine, the ecu (ECU).

The ECU (European Currency Unit) is not a real currency. No banknotes denominated in ECU have been issued, as it is an accounting unit whose value is calculated on a daily basis. The exchange rate is calculated as an average of the currencies of the Member States of the European Economic Community (EEC).

The November/December 1980 edition of the publication 30 jours d’Europe looks at the position of Roy Jenkins, President of the European Commission, with regard to the gradual implementation of the European Monetary System (EMS) and the adoption of the ECU.

In November 1984, five years after the launch of the ECU, the German weekly magazine Der Spiegel assesses the success enjoyed by the European currency unit on the international financial markets despite the initial scepticism of the German banking sector.

Table showing the evolution of currencies within the ecu 'basket' from 1975 to 1987.

Helmut Schmidt, Social-Democrat Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from 1974 to 1982.