In its Communication of 11 February 1992 entitled From the Single Act to Maastricht and beyond: the means to match our ambitions, also known as the ‘Delors II Package’, the Commission proposes adjustments to the structure of Community funding so as to take greater account of each Member State’s ability to pay.

On 12 February 1988, at a joint press conference held after the European Council, François Mitterrand and Jacques Chirac, respectively French President and Prime Minister, answer journalists’ questions on the agreement reached for the introduction of the ‘Delors package’.

On 12 February 1988, during the Brussels European Council held on 11 and 12 February, the German weekly magazine Die Zeit comments on the discussions between Germany and its European partners, especially the United Kingdom, on the Delors package.

On 15 February 1988, the German daily newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung welcomes the adoption of the Delors package at the Brussels European Council held on 11 and 12 February, despite resistance from British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

On 16 February 1988, the British left-wing daily newspaper The Guardian analyses the policy pursued by the British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, towards the budgetary measures advocated by the Delors Commission.

On 18 June 1990, Jean-Jacques Rey, Director of the National Bank of Belgium (BNB), delivers a lecture to members of the non-governmental organisation Cercle Populaire Européen (European People’s Circle) in which he expresses his confidence in the success of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), whose first stage begins on 1 July 1990, while at the same time identifying the challenges to be overcome in this field by the Twelve.

On 27 June 1989, at the end of the Madrid European Council, François Mitterrand, President of the French Republic, answers journalists’ questions on the implementation of the first stage of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), scheduled for 1 July 1990, and on the convening of an Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) in preparation for the subsequent stages thereof.

At the meeting of the European Council, held on 8 and 9 December 1989 in Strasbourg, the Heads of State or Government of the Twelve decide to convene an intergovernmental conference (IGC) with a view to the revision of the Community treaties and the establishment of economic and monetary union (EMU).

On 12 December 1989, the British Parliament debates the decisions adopted at the end of the Strasbourg European Council, held on 8 and 9 December, regarding the implementation of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and questions the United Kingdom’s participation in the European Monetary System (EMS).

On 27 November 1989, the European Commission’s Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs (DG II) addresses a note to the members of the Monetary Committee which analyses the ecu (European Currency Unit) market in the light of the first stage of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU).