–Decision Paves Way For Country To Join Euro January 1, 2011
LUXEMBOURG (MNI) – Estonia moved one step closer to Euro adoption
on Tuesday, as Eurozone finance ministers formally recommended that the
country be allowed to join the Eurozone currency club on January 1 2011,
an EU source said on Tuesday.
Now the Baltic country needs only the approval of European Union
leaders at their meeting June 17 in order to become the seventeenth
Eurozone member at the start of next year.
The finance ministers’ decision is based on an assessment by the
EU’s executive arm, the European Commission, which concluded that
Estonia “clearly fulfils” the criteria to join the euro.
The European Central Bank, however, has voiced concerns about the
sustainability of the country’s low inflation rate.
Estonian Finance Minister Jurgen Ligi dismissed these concerns as
he arrived for a meeting of EU finance ministers in Luxembourg earlier
Tuesday.
“There’s no room for high inflation,” he said. “The ECB always
expressed concerns about inflation during previous accessions.”
The minister said it was “still good” for Estonia to join the Euro,
despite recent market pressure on the currency and political differences
within the currency union.
“Being pegged [to the euro] we get the problems of the Eurozone
anyway,” he said.
–Luxembourg: 0032 487 (0) 32 803 665, echarlton@marketnews.com
[TOPICS: MT$$$$,M$$FX$,M$$EC$,M$X$$$,M$$CR$,MGX$$$]
