Since 1 January 1999 the euro has been introduced in 19 EU Member States; this report examines seven of the nine EU countries that have not yet adopted the single currency. Two of the nine countries, Denmark and the United Kingdom, gave notification that they would not participate in Stage Three of EMU. As a consequence, Convergence Reports only have to be provided for these two countries if they so request. Given the absence of such a request from either country, this report examines seven countries: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Sweden. All seven countries are committed under the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (hereinafter the “Treaty”) to adopt the euro, which implies that they must strive to fulfil all the convergence criteria.
In producing this report, the ECB fulfils its requirement under Article 140 of the Treaty. Article 140 says that at least once every two years, or at the request of an EU Member State with a derogation, the ECB and the European Commission must report to the Council of the European Union (EU Council) “on the progress made by the Member States with a derogation in fulfilling their obligations regarding the achievement of economic and monetary union”. The seven countries under review in this report have been examined as part of the regular two-year cycle. The European Commission has also prepared a report, and both reports are being submitted to the
EU Council in parallel.
In this report, the ECB uses the framework applied in its previous Convergence Reports. It examines, for the seven countries concerned, whether a high degree of sustainable economic convergence has been achieved, whether the national legislation is compatible with the Treaties and the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank (Statute), and whether the statutory requirements are fulfilled for the relevant NCB to become an integral part of the Eurosystem. [...]
