Commission releases 2016 Convergence Report

EU News 204/2016

Brussels, 7 June 2016

The 2016 Convergence Report, published today, assesses Member States' progress on moving towards euro adoption. This year's report covers the seven Member States that are legally committed to adopt the euro: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Sweden.

The report is based on the convergence criteria, sometimes referred to as the ‘Maastricht criteria’, set out in article 140(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). 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 Member States covered in the report have made progress with convergence, but none of them currently meet all conditions for euro adoption:

- 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.

Source and additional information:
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-16-2116_en.htm?locale=en

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