Press Release: New Member States must speed up practical preparations for successful changeover to the euro, report shows

The European Commission on 4 November 2005 published its second report on the practical preparations for the adoption of the euro in the new Member States. This report did not prejudge a future conclusion on whether any of the 10 new Member States fulfil the Maastricht convergence criteria to qualify for the euro, which was to be the subject of a separate report in 2006. The main findings of the report were that the practical preparations for the introduction of the single currency were well under way in Estonia, Lithuania, Slovenia and Slovakia. But the pace needed to be stepped up especially in those countries that aspire to change over to the euro in 2007.

European Commission: Speech: SPEECH/05/661, Second report on the state of practical preparations for the future enlargement of the euro area, 4.11.05 http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=SPEECH/05/661&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

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