Bucharest has officially set its deadline for adopting the Euro for the year 2015, but since the Eurozone is badly affected by the sovereign debt crisis, this is difficult to attain. Lately, several EU countries, such as Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary, have slowed down their preparations for joining the Eurozone. Bulgaria, which joined the EU in 2007 alongside Romania, announced it has suspended any preparations indefinitely. Now Romanian National Bank experts say that this ambitious deadline may be extended.

The chief economist of the National Bank said that the new government, which will be elected in December, will have the final say in setting Romania’s calendar for the transition. In Lazea’s opinion, the main issues with adopting the Euro are the criteria for real convergence, such as the GDP per capita and the structure of the economy. In the Romanian economy as it stands, agriculture makes up for 6 to 7% of the GDP, employing 25 to 30% of the work force. Romania should also meet other criteria, such as joining the ERM II by January 2013. This is an intermediate stage, the Exchange Rate Mechanism, during which the stability of the national currency will be tested. Under it, the currency exchange rate has to vary by no more than 15% in reference to a given average.

Another condition is for the central bank and the European Commission to accept the fact that Romania will adopt the Euro not on January 1, 2015, but around the middle of that year. The Treaty of Maastricht sets clear conditions for joining the Euro currency club. The budget deficit cannot exceed 3%, public debt has to be no more than 60% of the GDP, and inflation cannot go beyond 1.5%, the average for the best faring countries in the Eurozone. National Bank chief economist Lazea believes that adopting the Euro would go a long way towards helping Romania develop, and said that small economies, with scarce resources, cannot act independently in a globalized world.

He also said that Romania has the option of following the example of other countries, which have not set a specific date for adopting the Euro, given that Eurozone countries right now are not very eager to receive new members in their club, and that the conditions for joining the Eurozone are rather strict.