Eurasia Press & News
The European Commission on Wednesday concluded Romania is not yet prepared to join the euro area, citing a series of legal incompatibilities along the mandatory criteria for adopting the European common currency.
In its 2010 convergence report, the Commission said Romania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden don’t meet the criteria to adopt the euro.
Estonia, on the other hand, was given green light to join the eurozone, pending final decision from the EU finance ministers in July.
Romania plans to join the eurozone in 2015.
According to the Commission, the Romanian legal framework, particularly the one regarding the central bank BNR, is not entirely compatible to articles 130 and 131 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and the ESCB/ECB Statute (the statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central bank).
The list of incompatibilities includes the integration of Romanian central bank to the European central banks’ system, the bank’s independence, as well as the prohibition on monetary financing, excepting for “emergency assistance.”
