It was like a long compressed spring being released. The Northern European countries voiced loud and clear that they did not trust the will of Southern countries to make their economies more healthily competitive and financially sound.
Any attempts to stabilise the exchange rate while at the same time meeting other targets, are thus futile in theory. In practice, they spawn a number of problems which are aggravated the closer one seeks to stabilise the exchange rate. A number of central banks, including several from new EU member states, currently base their monetary policy on inflation targeting.