On 17 October 1989, in an address given to mark the opening of the 40th academic year of the College of Europe in Bruges, Jacques Delors, President of the European Commission, discusses the progress of economic integration of the Twelve and the new challenges to be faced.

In his editorial of 1 February 1989, Emanuele Gazzo, Director of Agence Europe in Brussels, reviews the tactics used by the United Kingdom to prevent the establishment of an Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) in Europe.

On 18 April 1990, Emanuele Gazzo, Director of Agence Europe, sees the implementation of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) as the logical consequence of a federal European Union.

In September 1992, the French magazine Le Monde diplomatique warns against the threat to the economy of a single European currency.

On 5 December 1990, the French Council of Ministers notifies its support for the plan for Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and outlines the various stages leading thereto.

On 7 February 1992, in Maastricht, the representatives of the Twelve sign the Treaty on European Union. The Treaty enters into force on 1 November 1993 and establishes an Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) which will ultimately lead to a single currency.

On 13 December 1997, the French daily newspaper Libération comments on the attitude of the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and on the compromise reached between the United Kingdom and its European partners at the Luxembourg European Council, held on 12 and 13 December, on the participation in and functioning of the Euro Council, particularly in comparison with the Council of Economic Affairs and Finance Ministers (Ecofin).

On 31 October 2003, commenting on the appointment of Jean-Claude Trichet, Governor of the Bank of France, to the Presidency of the European Central Bank (ECB), the French weekly magazine Le Point notes the differences between the monetary objectives and the means of action of the ECB and the US Federal Reserve System (Fed).

On 15 January 1999, Oskar Lafontaine, German Social Democrat Finance Minister, and his French Socialist counterpart, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, publish a joint column in the French daily newspaper Le Monde in which they describe the economic implications of the adoption of the single currency following the transition, on 1 January 1999, to the third stage of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU).

In July 1997, Ignacio Ramonet, Editor-in-Chief of the French monthly newspaper Le Monde Diplomatique, deplores the dominant influence of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and of the Bundesbank on the European Union and on its economic and monetary programme.

On 8 October 1997, in Brussels, Philippe Maystadt, Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance and Foreign Trade, gives an address to the Members of the General Commission for the Euro — given the task of preparing the Belgian public administrations and economic operators for the single currency — in which he outlines the future timetable for the implementation of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and welcomes the efforts already made in the country with a view to the introduction and subsequent entry into circulation of the euro.

On 21 April 1998, as debates are held in the French National Assembly on the European Commission’s recommendations concerning the transition to the single currency, Lionel Jospin, French Prime Minister, comments on the transition to the third stage of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), due to take place on 1 January 1999, and outlines the conditions imposed by France to ensure the successful adoption of the euro.

On 28 March 1998, about a thousand members of the Bund Freier Buerger [League of Free Citizens] movement take to the streets of Frankfurt to protest against the introduction of the new European currency, the euro, which officially sounds the death knell of the Deutschmark.

On 23 April 1998, in the Bundestag, a group of MPs from the Party of Democratic Socialism (Partei des Demokratischen Sozialismus — PDS), led here by the protest leader, Gregor Gisy, demonstrate their opposition to the introduction of the single currency in Germany.

On 19 January 1999, Charles Pasqua, Gaullist Senator and former Minister, publishes a column in the French daily newspaper Le Monde in which he sets out the grounds for his opposition to France's entry into the euro zone.

On 1 January 1999, starting date of the third stage of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), the French daily newspaper Le Monde describes the reluctance of Denmark, Finland and Sweden, despite their healthy economic performance, to adopt the single European currency: the euro.

On 19 September 2003, the French weekly news magazine Le Point comments on the reasons, in particular the economic, social and cultural reasons, which may explain the victory of the ‘No’ vote, by 56.1 %, in the referendum held on 14 September in Sweden on the country’s adoption of the single European currency.

In an article for the monthly publication Louvain published in December 2001, a few days before the entry into circulation of the euro, Baron Alexandre Lamfalussy, former President of the European Monetary Institute (EMI) and Emeritus Professor at the Catholic University of Louvain (UCL), outlines the successive stages and the difficulties involved in the implementation of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), laying particular emphasis on the role played by the EMI.

On 15 January 2002, Ferdinando Riccardi, Editor-in-Chief of Agence Europe in Brussels, comments on the entry into circulation of the euro coins and banknotes on 1 January and outlines with satisfaction the economic impact of the single currency, emphasising the importance for the European Union of restoring the balance of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU).

On 16 June 2005, the French weekly news magazine Le Point gives an account of the crisis of confidence surrounding the euro and the monetary policy of the European Central Bank (ECB) in the light of the critical situation with which the European Union is faced following, in particular, the defeats in the referenda held on 29 May in France and on 1 June in the Netherlands on the ratification of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe.