At the end of the Hanover European Council of 27 and 28 June 1988, Jacques Delors, President of the European Commission, and Helmut Kohl, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and President-in-Office of the Council of the European Communities, hold a press conference during which they outline the advantages of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and the working method required to achieve this.

Table listing the members of the committee chaired by Jacques Delors, President of the European Commission, responsible for submitting and proposing practical steps leading towards gradual establishment of economic and monetary union (EMU).

In this interview excerpt, Jacques Delors, President of the Commission of the European Communities from 1985 to 1995, discusses the stages leading up to the publication of the ‘Delors Report', particularly mentioning the role of Pierre Werner, and describes the composition and work of the Committee of Governors, which he chaired, and which paved the way to the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) enshrined in the Maastricht Treaty.

In this interview, Jacques de Larosière, former Governor of the Bank of France and former member of the committee chaired by Jacques Delors, President of the European Commission, which had the task of studying and proposing the practical stages leading to the gradual establishment of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), summarises the objectives of this committee.

In this interview, Jacques de Larosière, former Governor of the Banque de France and former member of the committee chaired by Jacques Delors, President of the European Commission, which was set up to examine and propose practical steps leading to the gradual establishment of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), discusses the working method used during the meetings of this committee.

In this interview, Alexandre Lamfalussy, General Manager of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) from 1985 to 1993 and President of the European Monetary Institute (EMI) from 1994 to 1997, explains the role that he played as a member of the ‘Delors Committee’, which was tasked in 1988 with studying and proposing concrete stages for the progressive realisation of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). He particularly focuses on the attitude of the various members of the ‘Delors Committee’ with regard to the chances of success for EMU, and describes the circumstances surrounding his appointment as President of the European Monetary Institute (EMI).

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.

In his memoirs, Jacques Delors, President of the European Commission between 1985 and 1995, discusses the establishment, the composition and the work of the Delors Committee which, on 12 April 1989, proposes to the Member States of the European Communities the creation of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) 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 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.

On 27 June 1989, following the Madrid European Council, Felipe González Márquez, Spanish Prime Minister and President-in-Office of the Council of the European Communities, and Jacques Delors, President of the European Commission, outline the implications of the three stages leading to Economic and Monetary Union (EMU).

In this interview, Élisabeth Guigou, Secretary-General of the Interministerial Committee for Questions on European Economic Cooperation (SGCI) from 1985 to 1990 and Policy Officer to the President of the French Republic, François Mitterrand, from 1988 to 1990, describes the additional work carried out after the submission of the Delors Report on the establishment of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) in 1989 and discusses the differences of opinion between France and Germany on this issue.

DG ECFIN sends a note to the President and Vice-President of the Commission of the European Communities reporting the details of its meeting on 13 September 1989 with Mrs Elisabeth Guigou, president of the high-level group on Economic and Monetary Union.

DG ECFIN reports on its meeting of 25 September 1989 with the high-level group on Economic and Monetary Union on the basis of the draft paper drawn up on 23 September by the Presidency entitled ‘Main questions raised by the establishment of an EMU’.

The General Secretariat of the Council sends the Commission of the European Communities the report on the main questions raised by the establishment of an Economic and Monetary Union, drafted on 24 October 1989 by the Presidency in preparation for the meeting of the high-level group on EMU due to be held on 26 October in Brussels.

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.

Following the Hanover Summit of 27 and 28 June 1988, the Delors Committee is given the task of studying and putting forward proposals for the phases which are to lead to the creation of an economic and monetary union. The establishment of a European Central Bank proves to be an indispensable precondition for the achievement of such a union.

In its decision of 12 March 1990, the Council broadens the mandate of the Committee of Governors of the Central Banks of the Member States of the European Communities, which was set up in 1964. In view of the realisation of the first stage of Economic and Monetary Union, the Committee will now particularly focus on strengthening the coordination of monetary policies and seeking greater convergence to ensure internal price stability, which is essential to the smooth operation of the European Monetary System (EMS).

In April 1992, the Committee of Governors of the Central Banks publishes its first annual report on its activities and on the monetary and financial situation in the Community. It covers the first 18 months of the first stage of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), which started on 1 July 1990.

In April 1993, the Committee of Governors of the Central Banks publishes its second annual report on its activities and on the monetary and financial situation in the Community in 1992. It highlights the turbulence in the exchange markets in the second half of 1992 and the consequences of the signing of the Maastricht Treaty in February 1992. It also reports on the establishment of the European Monetary Institute, which will take over the committee’s activities from 1993.