The formal decision will be made, in early July, by the finance ministers of the European Union, but the door is now wide open to the single currency. “This will strengthen the economy of Croatia”, welcomed the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
Le Monde with AFP
Seven years after the entry of Lithuania, the European Commission estimated on Wednesday 1 er June, that Croatia met the conditions to adopt the single currency at 1 SUP> January 2023, which will make it the twentieth member of the euro zone. The formal decision will be made at the beginning of July by the EU finance ministers, but the door is now wide open. No opposition is expected, while the ex-Yugoslav republic of four million inhabitants meet all the technical criteria. The European Central Bank (ECB) also rendered a positive opinion on Wednesday.
“I expect the procedure to go well and that Croatia can join the euro zone next year,” said the vice-president of the commission, Valdis Dombrovskis, who will be in Zagreb, Thursday.
Croatia had expressed its desire to adopt the single currency as soon as it is membership in the EU in 2013. It is now “ready to join the euro zone at 1 er January. will strengthen the economy of Croatia, benefiting its citizens, its companies and the whole company, “said the president of the commission, Ursula von der Leyen, cited in a press release. It will “also strengthen the euro,” she said.
The Mediterranean country has an important tourism sector. The creation of wealth per capita is just over half of the average level of the EU, such as Poland and the Baltic countries. The unemployment rate reached 6.1 % in April, in the European average.
This green light comes when the euro has just celebrated its twenty years of existence as a fiduciary currency. At the 1 January 2002, millions of Europeans in twelve countries abandoned it, the Franc, the Deutschemark and the Drachm for pieces and tickets in euros. They have been joined for seven other countries for seven other countries in 2007, Cyprus and Malta in 2008, Slovakia (2009), Estonia (2011), Latvia (2014) and, finally, Lithuania in 2015. The area. Euro now brings together 345 million inhabitants.
Symbol of European unit
The single currency is a symbol of European unity and sovereignty. All EU countries have committed theory to join in it as soon as they meet the conditions, but no calendar is set. Only exception, Denmark negotiated an exemption after a referendum in 2000 by which the Danes rejected the euro.
The introduction of a new currency has aroused fears in many countries. This is also the case in Croatia where only 30 % of the inhabitants judge their country ready for the euro, according to a study carried out in March and April. Some 87 % of the population think they will cause price increases. The Croatian economy is, in any case, ready for the new currency, according to the criteria examined by the Commission and the ECB.
In April, the inflation rate harmonized over twelve months, at 4.7 %, was located under the bar set of 4.9 %. The finances are healthy. The public deficit reached 2.9 % of the gross domestic product (GDP) last year, just under the limit of 3 %. Debt, 80 % of GDP, exceeds, of course, the threshold of 60 %, but this is the case for most EU countries and its trajectory is clearly down. The country’s long -term interest rates are also within the limits set.
Finally, the country joined the European exchange rate mechanism (MCE II) in July 2020 and was maintained there without difficulty. This mechanism fixes a variation limit of 15 % around the price of the Kuna, the Croatian currency, currently established at 7.5345 for one euro. A final exchange rate will be set in July.
In its report published on Wednesday, the Commission considers that Bulgaria, which hopes to adopt the euro in 2024, does not yet meet the conditions. Five other countries in the anteroom of the single currency (Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Sweden) are also in this case, but they do not have a very short term membership project.