From David Marsh’s book on the origins of the euro, some indication that the last few years of gold standard lunacy were baked into the cake from quite early on.

bq. The two leaders [Giscard d’Estaing and Helmut Schmidt] professed the common aim, at a wider European level that superseded national borders, to regain monetary stability forfeited through a century of war and disruption. According to Giscard, the road to a European money was part of a journey that had been abandoned when the Gold Standard ended:’During the second half of the nineteenth century, up to the 1914 war, France enjoyed continuously successful economic growth, and a steady build-up of its engineering industry, with a currency that was totally stable. With their roots in a rural economy and their cultural leaning towards the fundamental values of savings and thrift, the French as a nation cannot cope with an inflationary economy and a weak currency. They thrive on stable money.’ Schmidt, too, affirmed a link between the goal of EMU and the Gold Standard:’We had a currency union up to 1914 in Western Europe – the Gold Standard. From a historical point of view, I would draw a direct parallel.’ (p.69)