European Monetary System

American  

noun

1. a Common Market program designed to narrow the fluctuation of western European currencies against one another. EMS

---

European Monetary System British  

noun

1.  EMS.  the system used in the European Union for stabilizing exchange rates between the currencies of member states and financing the balance-of-payments support mechanism. The original Exchange Rate Mechanism was formed in 1979 but superseded in 1999 when the euro was adopted as official currency of 11 EU member states. A new exchange rate mechanism (ERM II) based on the euro is used to regulate the currencies of participating states that have not adopted the euro

---

Example Sentences

He had been instrumental in creating the 1972 fixed-exchange-rate arrangement that evolved in 1979 into the European Monetary System, the forerunner of today’s euro currency.

From Washington Post • Dec. 2, 2020

In Europe, leaders introduced the European Monetary System in 1979—the ancestor of today’s euro zone.

From Economist • Jul. 3, 2014

Its president, Karl Otto Pohl, and his cohort are still wrestling with an unfinished European Monetary System, involving commitments to support newcomers like the Greek drachma and the Portuguese escudo.

From Time Magazine Archive

While Britain, France and Italy would like to cut interest rates to stimulate growth, the European Monetary System obliges them to keep their currencies from falling too far behind the mark.

From Time Magazine Archive

President Fran�ois Mitterrand was warned by his advisers a month ago that the feeble French franc's pegged level within the European Monetary System could no longer be defended on world currency markets.

From Time Magazine Archive