The European Currency Unit

Abstract

When Eurocrats and journalists in Brussels had idle moments in the 1970s, they would speculate on the name that might be given to the currency that would ultimately become Europe’s own. The Europa was the favourite for some years, with the emu a close second. However, cartoons of idiotic-looking flightless birds on banknotes, inspired perhaps by Disney’s Fantasia, soon finished any hopes attached to the second of those. After the accession of the UK and Ireland, the leading candidate became the ecu, which stood, in English, for European currency unit, while in French it happened to be the name of a coin of that realm in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In Germany, however, ecu carries no such respect or meanings. There, it was hoped that the mark, which enjoyed an even longer history (not only there but also in England in the Middle Ages), might be chosen as Europe’s single currency.