Croatia’s first ministerial council under the Czech presidency in July should definitively confirm the possibility of using the euro. The Balkan country will then be able to start using the single currency as the twentieth eurozone from January next year.
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“It simply came to our notice then. It is a recognition of the great efforts that Croatia has made, “said French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, whose country will hand over the EU presidency to the Czech Republic in two weeks.
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Zagreb has met all four criteria that Brussels uses to assess its readiness to adopt the single currency. They concern the state of public finances, interest rates, price stability and the exchange rate.
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Double prices from September
Croatia has been planning to start listing prices in both kunas and euros since September. Both currencies should be valid for the whole of next year before only the European one remains.
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The EU countries have yet to formally allow the use of the single currency itself after the approval of the leaders’ summit in Brussels next week.
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“During the Czech Presidency, I confirmed to my ministerial colleagues that we would include a point on Croatia’s adoption of the euro at the July Ecofin Council meeting, as I promised the Croatian Minister of Finance a month ago in Brussels,” said Czech Minister Zbynek Stanjura, who took over from Le Maira on Friday. ministerial meetings for the next six months.
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The Czech priorities will be, in particular, to continue the debate on the reform of the Union’s budgetary rules and to promote sound and sustainable public finances.
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