Assessed Member States on euro adoption conditionsNewsletter European

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Assessed Member States on euro adoption conditions

Economy 5 July 2016 , by Newsletter European

The 2016 convergence report was issued by the European Commission and European Central Bank to provide an assessment of Member States about the euro adoption conditions.

Adopted on 7 June 2016,2016, the Convergence Report, is report that examines progress with convergence in 7 Member States with a derogation. The EC Treaty requires the Commission and the European Central Bank to issue it every two years or at the request of a EU Member State wishing to join the euro area.

The Convergence Reports examine whether Member States satisfy the conditions for adopting the single currency. Sustainability is a key aspect of the assessment of the Maastricht criteria.

The 2016 convergence criteria

The criteria include price stability, sound public finances, exchange rate stability and convergence in long-term interest rates. The compatibility of national legislation with Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) rules is also assessed.

The 2016 Convergence Report covers those seven states (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Sweden) with a derogation (states that have not jet fulfilled the necessary conditions for the adoption of euro).

None of them currently meet all conditions for euro adoption.

The results of the 2016 report

The 2016 Reports shows:

All Member States except Sweden meet the price stability criterion.
Six Member States fulfil the criterion on public finances, while Croatia is still subject to an excessive deficit procedure.
No Member State fulfils the exchange rate criterion, as none of them are a member of the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM II): at least two years of participation is required before joining the euro area.
All examined Member States fulfil the long-term interest rate criterion.
Legislation is not fully compatible with EMU rules in most of the Member States covered, except Croatia.

The next regular convergence assessment, covering all Member States with a derogation, is scheduled for June 2018.