25 Years of the Founding of the European Monetary Institute

A portrait of Alexandre Lamfalussy, the EMI's first president, with his name below. To the left, the abbreviation 'EMI' with the year '1994' above — when the institute was founded and Lamfalussy appointed its first president. Below 'EMI', a stack of falling coins inscribed 'EUR', 'ECU' and 'BEF' (top to bottom). To the upper left, the inscription 'European Monetary Institute'.

The European Monetary Institute was one of the decisive institutional precursors to the common European currency. Founded in 1994 in Frankfurt am Main, it was tasked with preparing the central banks of EU member states for the introduction of the euro — coordinating monetary policy, developing technical systems, and drafting the legal framework for the future European Central Bank. From the outset, the institute was headed by Belgian economist Alexandre Lamfalussy, who had previously earned international standing as General Manager of the Bank for International Settlements in Basel. Lamfalussy is regarded as one of the most important architects of European Economic and Monetary Union, and his work at the EMI laid essential groundwork for the euro's introduction as book money in 1999.

Lamfalussy was born in 1929 in Kapuvár, Hungary, and emigrated to Belgium after the Second World War, where he studied economics and later built a career in international finance. His intellectual outlook combined continental European economic thinking with a deep understanding of the stability requirements of an integrated currency area. Even after leaving the EMI, he continued to shape European financial market regulation: the so-called Lamfalussy process, a tiered procedure for harmonising EU financial market legislation, still bears his name today. With its 2019 2-euro commemorative coin, Belgium honoured both Lamfalussy and the 25th anniversary of the founding of the European Monetary Institute.