Back in the sixties, the main activity of IFORS was the organization of triennial international conferences addressing the world community of operational researchers. At that time, there was in Europe an increasing awareness of numerous ongoing OR activities on one side and, on the other, rather weak means for promoting communication and cooperation among European operational researchers. Some national societies did (and do still) cooperate on an ad hoc basis but not to an extent to satisfy the general need for 'something' between IFORS and the national societies.
In conjunction with the 6th IFORS-Conference (Dublin, 1972), the participating presidents of European OR societies discussed the situation and agreed to seek it improved. Invited by H.-J. Zimmermann, President of the German OR Society, representatives of eleven European OR societies met in Düsseldorf on 3 September 1973 and decided to institutionalize better ways of cooperation within the framework of IFORS. In a more extensive meeting of representatives of European OR societies, held in Amsterdam on 3-4 May 1974, two major decisions were made:
1. The representatives agreed that it would be advisable to formalize and institutionalize increased European cooperation. To this end a possible agreement between the European OR societies was drafted and it was the general consensus that such an agreement could be signed by the societies in the near future.
2. It was furthermore agreed to assemble operational researchers from all Western European countries within the framework of the First European Conference on Operational Research.
The Belgian OR Society accepted the invitation to host this meeting and the OR societies of Denmark, Germany, United Kingdom, Norway, The Netherlands and Sweden agreed to finance the preparation by offering loans as a supplement to funds already raised for that purpose by the Belgian Society. IFORS also offered to provide a loan if necessary. The meeting was scheduled for January 1975 in Brussels, Belgium.
Normally 9 months would have been totally insufficient to prepare for an international conference addressing the entire OR community in Europe. The enthusiasm and involvement of all those who participated in the preparatory work compensated for lack of time. Thus the First European Conference on Operational Research (EURO I), was opened on the morning of 27 January 1975 at the Sheraton Hotel in Brussels. The meeting which managed to assemble no less than 506 participants was a remarkable success. Also the main objective, to institutionalize closer cooperation among the European operational researchers, was fully achieved: nine European OR societies gave birth to EURO, The Association of European Operational Research Societies within IFORS, by signing an agreement in which the signatories resolved:
1. To grant to any fully paid-up member of any signatory body all rights and privileges which were offered by them to their own members.
2. To exchange all appropriate information, inform other signatories of existing working groups and the dates and locations of the meetings and open such working groups to individual members of other signatories.
3. To organize European Conferences on Operational Research and European Working Groups.
4. To encourage the formation of Operational Research Societies in other European countries and to give such new bodies any possible help they might require.
On 8 March 1976, in a circular letter to all European OR societies, the Honourary Secretary could proudly announced: 'I hereby declare that EURO, The Association of European Operational Research Societies within IFORS, is now formally constituted with effect from 5 March 1976 and the draft statutes circulated on 29 June 1975 are effective'.
Considerable progress has been made since then, as is evidenced by the subsequent pages of this Website. However, there is a continuous need for enthusiastic and dedicated people to enable EURO to maintain its present instruments and to carry out a wider range of activities in support of its objectives. \
1969: The original members of the European Economic Community (EEC) France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg meet in The Hague to launch an initiative for economic and monetary union (EMU).
1972: The UK, Denmark and Ireland join the EEC.
1979: EEC governments set up the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) to reduce volatility between European currencies. The UK stays out of the new system.
1990: Britain joins the ERM.
1991: European leaders sign the Maastricht Treaty setting up the European Union (EU) and committing EC countries to EMU. John Major secures an opt-out for the UK.
Sept 16 1992: Black Wednesday. Britain is forced to withdraw sterling from the ERM after it is unable to keep sterling above its agreed lower limit.
1995: European leaders agree to call the new single currency the euro.
1997: Newly elected Chancellor Gordon Brown says the Government is pro-euro in principle but must pass “five economic tests” before a referendum on the issue is held. William Hague, announces that the Conservative party will rule out joining the single currency for at least two parliaments.
Jan 4, 1999: The euro is born in 11 of the 15 EU member states and begins trading at $1.1747, hitting a high of $1.1906 on the same day. The UK, Sweden and Denmark stay out of the single currency. Greece is initially excluded because of its weak economy.
Dec 2, 1999: Euro falls below parity with the dollar for the first time.
October 26, 2000: Euro hits a record low of $0.8225, 30pc below its launch value.
September 22, 2000: The European Central Bank, along with the central banks of the USA and Japan, intervenes in the currency markets to prop up the value of the euro.
September 11, 2001 - The terrorist attacks on the US sees the euro fall below $0.90 again.
January 2, 2002: Euro notes and coins become legal tender in the 12 eurozone countries - Greece is the 12th member.
June 28, 2002: Euro rises back above $1.00. Pressure on the dollar intensifies following months of concern about corporate accounting scandals from Enron to WorldCom.
June 30, 2004: Fed raises rates by a quarter percentage point from record low of 1 percent, the first in a series of hikes that take rates as high as 5.25 percent by June 2006. Euro closes at $1.2185.
Feb 27, 2008: Euro trades above the key psychological $1.50 barrier, after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke signalled the central bank was ready to cut rates again in the face of mounting risks to economic growth.
Autumn 2008: Lehman Brothers files for bankruptcy, while the government bails out insurer AIG. Investors flock to safe-haven status of dollar and yen. Euro to a low of $1.2328 on Oct 28 from $1.4825 on Sept 22.
May 6, 2010: Euro falls to a 14-month low of $1.2510 as risks of contagion from the Greek debt crisis rock global markets. Tumbles to a four-year low against the dollar on May 17 to $1.2234.
November 30, 2010: Euro drops below the $1.30 mark for the first time since mid-September, as fears over the eurozone’s debt crisis continue.
