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ForMin Melescanu: Romania could access Eurozone in 2022
Romania, one of the fastest growing European Union members, could join the Eurozone in 2022, once the incomes of its poorest citizens rise, Foreign Affairs Minister Teodor Melescanu said in an interview with Polish Rzeczpospolita daily, taken over by Reuters.
"The accession to the Eurozone is a political decision that we have adopted many years ago. Currently, we already meet all formal requirements, so we could join the currency union even tomorrow. But we're afraid that it will have a negative effect on the poorest, pensioners' incomes. I think that we will adopt the euro in five years, in 2022," Melescanu said.
The Eurozone consists of 19 members states. The latest one, Lithuania, joined the club in 2015.
Romania is one of the fastest growing economies of the European Union, with gross domestic product expected to expand by 5.5-5.6 percent in 2017, according to Melescanu. Most of the EU member states from outside the Eurozone, including Denmark, Sweden, Poland and the Czech Republic, scored a rapid came back after the global financial crisis of 2008 than the states inside the Eurozone. Nevertheless, Romania continues to be one of the poorest countries in the EU.
Prime Minister Mihai Tudose too stated, last month, that Romania's accession to the Eurozone represents "a commitment" that our country made once it joined the European Union, while specifying that, nevertheless, there are still a lot of things to be done in terms of "convergence". According to the head of the Executive, there is no deadline established for this. "We didn't set a deadline. As soon as possible, but we do know that we do not intend to skip stages, since by doing this we will do more harm than good," said Tudose.