The European Commission reported on Wednesday that five European Union countries bound by accession commitments to eventually adopt the euro do not yet fulfil the criteria necessary to make the change to the single currency.
Currently, 21 of the EU's 27 member states use the euro, a currency in circulation among more than 350 million people across the bloc. The Commission periodically assesses the readiness of the remaining member states that still operate national currencies - a review carried out every two years.
According to the Commission's assessment, Sweden, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Czechia remain obligated to adopt the euro as part of their EU membership conditions. Denmark, in contrast, holds a formal exemption and is not required to introduce the single currency.
The report reiterates the set of economic and legal conditions that any country must satisfy before changing to the euro. Those conditions include maintaining low inflation and interest rates, preserving a stable national currency, keeping the budget deficit within EU limits, and ensuring public debt is either below 60% of gross domestic product or moving downward toward that threshold. In addition, national central bank statutes must be harmonised with requirements set by the European Central Bank.
Among the five countries named, Sweden and Czechia were identified as meeting all of the formal convergence requirements except one. Both have not entered their national currencies into the Exchange Rate Mechanism II - a two-year participation intended to demonstrate exchange-rate stability prior to euro adoption. Entry into ERM2 is dependent on a government decision, and neither Sweden nor Czechia has chosen to take that step.
The Commission's convergence framework also provides a procedural avenue that can be used by governments that are domestically reluctant to pursue euro adoption for political reasons, enabling them to delay moving into the ERM2 phase or the formal adoption timetable.
The Commission's biannual review thus leaves five member states still outside the euro area, while the conditions that govern accession remain clearly defined and tied to both economic metrics and legal alignment with the European Central Bank.