What exchange-rate system did the euro replace for many EU currencies?

What exchange-rate system did the euro replace for many EU currencies? The euro replaced the European Monetary System as the framework governing many participating European currencies.

The European Monetary System (EMS) began in 1979 to promote exchange-rate stability among members of the European Economic Community. Its central mechanism, the Exchange Rate Mechanism, kept participating currencies within agreed bands around reference values. The European Currency Unit, or ECU, served as a composite accounting unit based on a basket of European currencies.

The euro emerged from this system through the Maastricht Treaty’s plan for Economic and Monetary Union. It was introduced as an accounting currency on 1 January 1999, when participating national exchange rates were irrevocably fixed. Euro banknotes and coins followed on 1 January 2002.

The most precise distinction is that the euro directly replaced national currencies and replaced the ECU at a one-to-one rate. In broader historical terms, it succeeded the EMS and its exchange-rate arrangements. Bretton Woods and the Latin Monetary Union were earlier, different international monetary systems.