When Shall Poland Enter the Euro Zone?

Abstract

January 1, 2002 brought the European Union into life when 300 million EU inhabitants in Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Greece, Spain, Holland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Germany, Portugal and Italy received a new currency—the Euro. On May 1st 2004, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Malta, Poland, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia and Hungary joined the European Union, and on January 1, 2007 Bulgaria and Romania committed themselves to enter the monetary union as soon as possible, after they fulfill convergence criteria established by the Maastricht Treaty of February 7, 1992 by which all EU member countries shall, as the end result, enter the economic and currency union. Entering countries had or have to accept the Treaty without any conditions. Only Great Britain and Denmark had not entered the euro zone, but they have an “opt-out” clause by which they can, but do not have to, enter, whereas Sweden did not manage to get social acceptance on giving up their “crown” and accepting the euro in the 2003 referendum, without defining the date of its entry into the currency union. Bulgaria and Romania have still to convert to the euro currency despite entering the European Union January 1, 2007.