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EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Slovakia has received formal confirmation that it is ready to join the euro on 1 January 2009, despite the "considerable concerns" of the European Central Bank about the forthcoming price stability performance of the country. "The report finds that Slovakia has achieved a 'high degree of sustainable convergence' and therefore it is considered ready to adopt the euro in 2009," said the European Commission evaluation report. It stated that "the budget deficit in Slovakia has seen a credible and sustainable reduction to below 3 percent of GDP," and its average inflation rate "is well below the reference value, and it is likely to remain below the reference value in the months ahead, albeit with a narrowing margin." The levels of inflation in Slovakia were previously regarded as the most sensitive area of the Slovak candidacy, with Brussels urging Bratislava until the last minute to make more lasting cuts in the budgetary deficit to prevent future inflation hikes.
The European Commission on Wednesday approved the application of Slovakia to adopt the euro as its currency on Jan. 1, 2009, completing a fast and furious transformation that brought the small country from dictatorship to thriving market economy in less than a decade. Slovakia will become the 16th country using the euro. In an annual report on candidates for the euro zone, the commission said that Slovakia fulfilled the criteria laid down in European treaties for joining the euro zone on interest rates, budget deficits and, above all, inflation. Under the formula used to evaluate potential members, Slovakia had to have an inflation rate no higher than 3.2 percent over the past 12 months, a mark it beat by a full percentage point. No other countries have yet applied for euro membership, but no others would have been accepted if they had. The Baltic countries of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, once the strongest candidates, now appear far from that goal because of high inflation rates. Larger countries like Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic seem equally unlikely to move quickly to adopt the euro.
The European Commission on Wednesday approved the application of Slovakia to adopt the euro as its currency on Jan. 1, 2009, completing a fast and furious transformation that brought the small country from dictatorship to thriving market economy in less than a decade.
Slovakia will become the 16th country using the euro.
In an annual report on candidates for the euro zone, the commission said that Slovakia fulfilled the criteria laid down in European treaties for joining the euro zone on interest rates, budget deficits and, above all, inflation. Under the formula used to evaluate potential members, Slovakia had to have an inflation rate no higher than 3.2 percent over the past 12 months, a mark it beat by a full percentage point.
No other countries have yet applied for euro membership, but no others would have been accepted if they had. The Baltic countries of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, once the strongest candidates, now appear far from that goal because of high inflation rates. Larger countries like Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic seem equally unlikely to move quickly to adopt the euro.
It's not just football we're bad at.
