As of today, Bulgaria and Croatia are one step closer to adopting the Euro as their national currency. The two countries have accepted the new exchange rate mechanism (ERM-2), the mandatory "wait" until joining the euro, which marks the beginning of the first enlargement of the eurozone in five years, the European Central Bank announced today.
With the consent of the finance ministers of the eurozone and the ECB, the two Balkan countries will also join the banking union, setting up their largest banks under the supervision of Frankfurt on 1 October.
The two countries will have to stay in ERM-2 for at least two years, until they begin practical preparations for joining the euro. This process generally takes another year, which means that they will become members of the eurozone by 2023 at the earliest.
Under the ERM-2, the ECB set the Bulgarian leva at 1,95583 euros and the Croatian kuna at 7,3450 euros.
The last country to join the eurozone was Lithuania in 2015.
RES-EAP