ABSTRACT
With the dissolution and sudden end of the polarizing Soviet hegemony on Eastern Europe in 1989/90, the European Communities (EC) was confronted with a difficult test. French President François Mitterrand regarded it as sufficient to emphasize the necessity of a European framework for reunification. For Mitterrand, the development of the existing European Monetary System (EMS) into a monetary union was the core element of his deepening strategy for the European Community. However, Mitterrand did not readily agree to the proposal for launching the political union. He still feared that differing views on the institutional configuration of the final political form of the community could delay implementation of the monetary union. On 15 February, his only concrete suggestion to Kohl was to bring forward the beginning of the government conference on the monetary union, which was swiftly rejected by the chancellor.
