The rising of the Phoenix : building the European Monetary System on a meeting of minds

Decades later, the sudden and swift establishment of the European Monetary System (EMS) within the context of the 1970s economic downturn and Euro-sclerosis remains a strikingly remarkable achievement. This article argues that this unexpected leap forward in the European economic and monetary issuearea was above all made possible by a unique meeting of minds by the French President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing and the German Chancellor Schmidt. However, within a context of Euro-sclerosis and economic downturn, their success was as much dependent on the opportunities and constraints provided by the domestic and European political and economic context.