On 28 June 1988, the Hanover European Council decides to entrust to a Committee chaired by Jacques Delors, President of the European Commission, the task of studying and proposing concrete stages leading towards an Economic and Monetary Union (EMU).

On 12 April 1989, Jacques Delors, President of the Commission of the European Communities, publishes the ‘Delors Report' which proposes that economic and monetary union (EMU) be achieved in three stages.

At their meeting of 26 and 27 June 1989 in Madrid, the Heads of State or Government of the Twelve adopt the Delors Plan as the basis for further work on the stage-by-stage establishment of an economic and monetary union (EMU).

On 8 and 9 December 1989, during the Strasbourg European Council, the Heads of State or Government of the Twelve decide, in particular, that the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) on the final stages of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) will reconvene before the end of 1990.

On 28 April 1990, the European Commission sends to the European Foreign Ministers a note on economic and monetary union (EMU) and on the implementation of a new monetary institution, EuroFed.

On 10 October 1990, with a view to the establishment of an Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), the European Parliament adopts a resolution in which it confers on participants at the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) the task of analysing the amendments that should be made to the Treaty of Rome.

In its conclusions adopted on 15 December 1990, the Rome European Council provides the context for the holding of two Intergovernmental Conferences (IGC) on Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and on Political Union, officially opening in Rome on the same date.

Le 15 décembre 1990, Guido Carli, ministre italien du Trésor, ouvre solennellement à Rome la Conférence intergouvernementale (CIG) sur l'Union économique et monétaire (UEM).

On 18 June 1991, the Luxembourg Council Presidency presents a draft Treaty on European Union, drawn up on the basis of the proceedings at the two intergovernmental conferences on Political Union and Economic and Monetary Union, which began on 15 December 1990 in Rome. This draft, which proposes the establishment of three pillars for the Union, is to be the basis for negotiations within the two conferences that will lead to the adoption of the Treaty of Maastricht on 7 February 1992.

On 9 and 10 December 1991, the Heads of State or Government of the Twelve meet as the European Council in Maastricht in order to seek agreement on the Treaty on European Union.

Group photo at the Rome European Council held on 14 and 15 December 1990, which sets out in its conclusions the framework within which the two Intergovernmental Conferences (IGCs) on Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and Political Union will be conducted.

‘Maastricht open-air swimming pool: “Follow me! Let us know if there’s any water in the pool!”’ On 9 December 1991, on the eve of the Maastricht European Council, German cartoonist Horst Haitzinger takes an ironic look at the commitment (‘Follow me!’) of German Chancellor Helmut Kohl to Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and to the Treaty on European Union. French President François Mitterrand, second in line, seems more reluctant to take the plunge (‘Let us know if there’s any water in the pool!’), while British Prime Minister John Major seems to be about to climb down from the diving board.

‘The Euro-bicycle: no sooner sat on it than the cyclist notices that he is riding uphill …’ On 14 December 1991, the German cartoonist, Ernst Maria Lang, takes an ironic look at the efforts made by the German Government to establish Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). In their enthusiasm, the German Chancellor, Helmut Kohl (left), Theo Waigel, German Finance Minister (centre), and Hans-Dietrich Genscher, Minister for Foreign Affairs (right), seem not to have realised that the rear wheel (social policy and security) is too small compared with the front wheel of monetary union.

On 10 December 1991, following the Maastricht European Council, Ruud Lubbers, Netherlands Prime Minister and President-in-Office of the Council of the European Communities, holds a press conference during which he assures his colleagues that the European single currency will become a tangible reality before the end of the 20th century.

On 12 December 1991, reporting on the outcome of the Maastricht European Council of 9 and 10 December, the German daily newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung highlights the failure of the proposals for political union put forward by the German Chancellor, Helmut Kohl, and emphasises the key role played by France to end the deadlock between the Twelve.