Euro notes – Photo © sergign – Fotolia
(LUXEMBOURG) – The Eurogroup of EU finance ministers endorsed a recommendation Thursday that Croatia should introduce the euro on 1 January 2023, the first step in a legal process to enable Croatia to join the euro area.
At their meeting, ministers agreed with the European Commission’s and the European Central Bank’s positive assessment of Croatia’s fulfilment of convergence criteria.
This is the first step in a process by which the EU Council adopts legal acts that will enable Croatia to become a member of the euro area and to benefit from using our common currency, the euro, as of next year.
“I am very pleased to announce that the Eurogroup agreed today that Croatia fulfils all the necessary conditions to adopt the euro,” said Eurogroup president Paschal Donohoe: “This is a crucial step on Croatia’s path to become the 20th member of our euro area and a strong signal for European integration.”
This recommendation is set to be adopted by the Ecofin Council (by a qualified majority vote of the euro area member states) at its meeting of 17 June 2022. The Council is also expected to endorse a letter by the President of the Ecofin Council to the European Council. The European Council will discuss the matter at its meeting on 23-24 June.
The process will conclude with the adoption by the Council (after it has consulted the European Parliament and the European Central Bank) of three legal acts that are necessary to enable Croatia to introduce the euro on 1 January 2023. The adoption of these acts is expected to take place in July.
Convergence Report 2022 by the European Central Bank
Convergence Report 2022 by the European Commission
