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Isarescu: adopting euro in 2019 no longer feasible
The target set for Romania to adopt the European single currency, namely the year 2019 is no longer feasible, and the National Bank of Romania (BNR, the central bank) will ask the Government and the Presidency that, before announcing a new date for entering the Eurozone, to set up a road map to be accepted through national consensus, BNR Governor Mugur Isarescu said on Wednesday."The 2019 target is not feasible anymore, not only because time has passed, but because we should have joined the ERM [Exchange Rate Mechanism] II on January 1 2016, or June 1 2016 at the latest. The preparation for this antechamber is complicated," the BNR governor explained.
In his opinion, this is not possible anymore, not even technically, and even if Romania would join the ERM II by the next year's half, there is another problem.
"The two-year period a country should stay in this antechamber of the euro is the minimum. So, no one guarantees that we join the Eurozone in 2019 and I don't believe this is the moment to push it," added Isarescu.
In this context, the BNR head warned that a road map is essential before announcing a new target.
"We'll propose the Government and the Presidency that, before any decision on a certain date is made, we should draw a road map to be discussed politically, to be appropriated by the Opposition, too, by all parties because next year we are looking to an elections' year. The road map should be accepted in a national consensus, for the Romanian society understands it is not about a mere change of banknotes," the BNR governor specified.