Accession Criteria
| Convergence Criteria | Obligation to adopt | Entry date | Euro coin Design | |||||||||||
| Inflation rate | Government finances | ERM II membership | Interest rates | officially set by country | ||||||||||
| Deficit to GDP | Debt to GDP | |||||||||||||
| Reference | max | 2.80 | limit | -3% | max | 60% | min | 2 years | max | 3.88 | ||||
| UK | 1.99 | -3.3 | 42.4 | 4.51 | opt-out | conditonal | na | |||||||
| Denmark | 1.89 | 4.9 | 35.9 | since 1 Jan 1999 | 3.88 | opt-out | not set | na | ||||||
| Sweden | 1.47 | 3 | 50.4 | 3.73 | yes | not set | none yet | |||||||
| Slovenia | 2.47 | -1.4 | 28 | since 28 Jun 2004 | 4.02 | yes | 2007 | ready | ||||||
| Estonia | 4.27 | 2.3 | 4.5 | since 28 Jun 2004 | yes | 2008 | ready | |||||||
| Cyprus | 2.28 | -2.3 | 69.2 | since 2 May 2005 | 4.26 | yes | 2008 | in progress | ||||||
| Malta | 3.08 | -3.2 | 74.2 | since 2 May 2005 | 4.34 | yes | 2008 | ready | ||||||
| Latvia | 6.72 | 0.1 | 12.1 | since 2 May 2005 | 4.55 | yes | 2008 | ready | ||||||
| Lithuania | 3.53 | -0.5 | 18.7 | since 28 Jun 2004 | 4.28 | yes | 2009 | ready | ||||||
| Slovakia | 4.29 | -3.1 | 34.5 | since 28 Nov 2005 | 4.42 | yes | 2009 | in progress | ||||||
| Czech Rep. | 2.23 | -3.6 | 30.4 | 3.89 | yes | 2010 | in progress | |||||||
| Hungary | 3.51 | -6.5 | 57.7 | 7.47 | yes | 2010 | in progress | |||||||
| Poland | 1.20 | -2.5 | 42 | 5.4 | yes | 2011 | in progress | |||||||
| last update: | Nov-06 | |||||||||||||
| Source: Thomson Datastream, Wikipedia | ||||||||||||||
Euro Accession Countries
The challenges of joining EMU under price level convergence
10.09.2007
By: John Lewis, De Nederlandsche Bank
How difficult is it to meet the Maastricht criteria and and for how long? It very much depends on the entry strategy. Exchange rate fixers have very little scope to accommodate price convergence via inflation, and hence find life much harder than inflation targeters who have some room to appreciate their nominal exchange rate in ERM-II.
Why the new EU member states should adopt the euro as soon as possible
06.06.2007
By: Iulia Traistaru-Siedschlag, ESRI
The new EU countries are facing two major macroeconomic policy challenges. The first is rapid real convergence that comes with rapid real GDP and productivity growth rates and large capital inflows. The second is to achieve nominal convergence required for the adoption of the euro. These two challenges are related, as rapid real convergence makes it more difficult to achieve nominal convergence.
The lessons Europe has to offer for Asia's monetary integration
07.05.2007
By: Wolfgang Munchau
If you replace the “E” in some our European acronyms with an “A”, you get to the nutshell of one of the hottest debates in Asian economics: the debate about future monetary integration. There is talk about an Acu (an Asian currency unit), or an Amu (Asian monetary union). This raises the question to what extent the European experience offers any lessons.
A reality check on German wages - no reason to panic
09.03.2007
By: Eurointelligence ECB Watch
Today, there are two short reports. The first big wage agreement has been concluded in Germany, in the chemical industry, and it looks fine. The headline wage increase is 4.3%, but this translates to a de facto increase in wage costs of only 2% for chemical industry employers. In a seperate report, we look at growing pressure from the export industries in the 14 African countries to drop the fixed-exchange rate peg to the euro.