Romania officially drops target to join the Eurozone in 2019

Romania’s accession to the Eurozone in 2019 is out of the question, President Klaus Iohannis said on Thursday, September 15.

“An accession that comes too soon can be detrimental to the Romanian economy,” he added.

Romania’s latest deadline for joining the Eurozone was 2019. This deadline was approved by the Government led by former Prime Minister Victor Ponta and officially announced on May 1, 2014.

However, analysts and even central bank officials were skeptical about this political target from the start and pointed out that Romania needed to achieve economic convergence before joining the euro.

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The local officials’ statements on the 2019 Eurozone accession have become more reserved in the past year. An official Government document mentioned earlier this year that Romania has given up the idea of joining the euro in 2019 and would announce a new date in 2017.

However, President Klaus Iohannis is the first local official who says this publicly. “This deadline was too optimistic, even unrealistic,” said President Iohannis.

However, Romania maintains the target of joining the euro zone but has no fixed deadline at the moment, he added.

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