Romania and the adoption of the European currency

The Committee for the changeover to the Euro has until November 2018 to present a timetable and a national plan in this respect.

Mihai Pelin, 22.03.2018, 14:26

After having become a EU member in 2007 Romania now has to also join the Euro zone. Throughout the years, three dates have been set for the adoption of the single currency but there has never been a project that the political class and the civil society committed themselves to in this respect. The previously set dates, namely the years 2012, 2019 and, more recently, 2022, turned out to be unrealistic, since the Romanian economy still needs serious reforms in order to successfully cope with the adoption of the single currency.

The problem has again come to the attention of the Bucharest Government that set up a national committee tasked with drafting a national plan for the country’s adoption of the European currency. In order to ensure large-scale representation, the committee will be made up of officials of public government institutions, in charge with making the necessary preparations for accession and the conducting of the structural reforms. Also part of the committee will be representatives of the Presidential Administration, the employers’ and trade union confederations, of the Central Bank, the Financial Surveillance Authority as well as personalities of the scientific and cultural world and representatives of NGOs. Two presidents will be heading the committee, namely, the current Prime Minister and the president of the Romanian Academy. The committee will also have two vice-presidents – the Governor of the Central Bank and the deputy Prime Minister, in charge of the economic sector.

With details on that, here is Government spokesman Nelu Barbu: ”In the coordination of the committee, specialized working groups will be formed, that will be operational on several levels, such as public finances and monetary and financial issues, labor market, education and healthcare reform and modernization, for the clarification of the legal aspects, for public information and consumer protection. The national committee will also present the timetable for the adoption of the euro and the national plan for the adoption of the single currency that must be assumed politically. The deadline is November 15, 2018.”

Euro zone countries, plus achieving exchange rate stability. Furthermore, the laws that regulate the organization and functioning of Romania’s Central Bank need to be harmonized with the European Central Bank legislation. Another requirement has to do with the continuation of the process of taking over and transposing community regulations to national legislation. So far, the single currency has been adopted by 19 of the 28 EU states, with Lithuania being the last country to have joined the Euro zone group in 2015. Pundits have warned that the debt crisis lasting longer than expected in Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain, which are less competitive countries, has emphasized the drawbacks of being part of the Euro zone for countries that are not prepared for it and also the need for thorough reforms. The largest eastern EU members, Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary, have slowed down for the time being their preparations for joining the Euro zone.