Eurozone/Timelines
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- 1970: The Werner Report
- 1972: The snake
- 1973: European Monetary Cooperation Fund
- 1974: Council Decision on the attainment of a high degree of convergence in the Community
- 1975: Launch of the European Currency Unit
- 1978: European Council resolution
- 1979: Launch of the European Monetary System
- 1986: The Single European Act is signed
- 1989: The Delors Committee report calls for the establishment of the European Monetary Union through
- The Madrid Summit of the European Council agrees that Stage 1 (the completion of the internal market and the removal of all obstacles to financial integration) will start on July 1st 1990.
- 1990: The Rome Summit of the European Council agrees that Stage 2 of EMU will begin on 1st January 1994
- 1992: Signing of the Maastricht Treaty
- 1999: Stage 3 begins. The exchange rates of the participating nations are fixed and the euro begins to trade on financial markets
- 2002: Euro notes and coins enter into circulation in all participating Member States.
- 2008: Financial crisis.
- The spread between the three-month EURIBOR and the overnight indexed swap rate rises to over 200 basis points.
- The European Central Bank starts a series of reductions of its main refinancing rate
- 2009: The bank reduces its main refinancing rate to 1 per cent, and introduces a quantitative easing as part a programme of "enhanced credit support"[1]
- 2010: Concern develops concerning the fiscal sustainability of the economies of the "PIIGS" countries (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain) and a eurozone fund was set up to assist members in difficilty. Loans are provided to Greece and Ireland, but there are signs of contagion of market fears by the governments of other eurozone countries. Launch of the European Financial Stability Facility. (see the Eurozone crisis article).
- 2011 The European Central Bank offers to lend unlimited amounts to eurozone banks at an interest rate of 1 per cent,
- 2012 EU Commission proposes new European Central Bank powers for banking supervision as part of a banking union[2]