Snakes and ladders

THE desire for currency stability in Europe dates back many decades, at least as far as the 19th-century Latin Monetary Union comprising France, Belgium, Switzerland, Bulgaria and Greece. From 1944 to 1973 stability was supplied by the Bretton Woods system of fixed exchange rates. When Bretton Woods was breaking down in the 1970s the Europeans devised a new system called the “snake”. Participants' rates were fixed more rigidly than Bretton Woods required. But by the time of the snake's launch in April 1972, rising inflation made it a sitting target for speculators. Britain barely joined before being forced to let its currency float (ie, sink). Denmark did likewise. Italy went soon after. France left in 1974, returned, and left again.