Stage II
The European Monetary System was no longer a functional arrangement in May 1998 as the member countries fixed their mutual exchange rates when participating in the euro. Its successor however, the ERM-II, was launched on 1 January 1999. In ERM-II the ECU basket was discarded and the new single currency euro has become an anchor for the other currencies participating in the ERM 2. Participation in the ERM 2 is voluntary and the fluctuation bands remain the same as in the original ERM, i.e. +15 percent, once again with the possibility of individually setting a narrower band with respect to the euro. Denmark and Greece became new members.
Read more about this topic: European Monetary System
Famous quotes containing the word stage:
“But the effort, the effort! And as the marrow is eaten out of a mans bones and the soul out of his belly, contending with the strange rapacity of savage life, the lower stage of creation, he cannot make the effort any more.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)