‘European Monetary System. Don’t make a fuss! If you can swallow Christmas pudding, you can swallow this!’ On 5 December 1978, French cartoonist Jacques Faizant illustrates how President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing (centre) and Chancellor Helmut Schmidt (on the left) are laying the foundations of a new European Monetary System. The two leaders also need to secure the support of British Prime Minister and Labour Party leader James Callaghan (on the right), since the EMS envisaged by France and Germany has not received unanimous support within the Labour Party.