East Europe central bankers still keen on euro

(VIENNA) - Countries in central and eastern Europe, including Hungary, still want to join the euro despite the current debt crisis, central bankers in the region told a conference Wednesday.

"People say that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger," Boris Vujcic, deputy head of Croatia's central bank, told the Euromoney Central and Eastern European Forum in Vienna.

"That is my hope -- that the eurozone will be stronger, that it will be built on more solid ground, that the missing links will be there by that time. If that is so, in 2013, I think that for Croatia the choice is very easy.

"We are so deeply involved and integrated in the financial sector and the real sector that there is very very little doubt that (adopting the euro) is the right choice."

Croatia signed an EU accession treaty last month, paving the way for it to join the 27-nation bloc -- but not the troubled 17-country eurozone -- on July 1, 2013.

Members of the EU, except Britain and Denmark which have opt-outs, are all meant to adopt the euro eventually. In 2007, Slovenia became the first ex-communist state to do so, followed by Slovakia in 2009.

EU member Hungary's central bank chief Andras Simor said that his country's economy was more closely integrated with the core countries in the eurozone than are certain members on its periphery.

"In practical terms we are fully convinced that the eurozone forms an optimum currency zone with Hungary. There are lots of economic reasons to join," Simor told the Vienna conference.

"The question is not if, the question is what is the best time. We probably need to wait and see how the present problems in the eurozone are sorted out.

"Secondly we have the luxury of being able to learn from the mistakes of other countries that have joined before us."

Hungary has been hit hard in recent months however by a drop in its currency, the forint, forcing it to seek a 15-20-billion-euro ($20-25 billion) credit line from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.

Talks however have snagged over IMF and EU objections to reforms of the central bank that they worry increases government influence on monetary policy, with Brussels on Tuesday even launching legal action.

Latvia's central bank chief Ilmars Rimsevics said meanwhile that his country was already in the so-called ERM II mechanism, the waiting room for eurozone entry which pegs their currencies to the euro.

"Latvia's goal is to join the euro in 2014 and therefore 2012 is a very important year for us because next spring will be the measurement time," Rimsevics said.

Among other countries in the region, 38-million-strong Poland says it expects by 2015 to meet all the economic criteria for eurozone entry, but -- like the Czech Republic -- has not set an adoption date.

"Adoption of the euro is only a question of time," said Polish central bank board member Andrzej Raczko. "In my opinion the Maastricht criteria are not the most important criteria ... but the reform of the eurozone."

Romania's deputy central bank chief Cristian Popa said: "The Romanian authorities are committed to joining the euro, we even have a target date for the decision which is 2015.

"That is strictly conditional however on the Romanian economy not just meeting sustainably the nominal criteria of the Maastricht treaty but being prepared in a structural way.

"I think that the principles that underlie the euro area are very good ... Even though support has eroded because of what is currently going on in Europe it is still fairy high relative to other countries."