Euro - Countries that have recently joined the Euro

Membership of the single european currency area - the Euro Zone - is required for nations entering the European Union but they must first meet the convergence criteria set out for participating nations and then make a final decision on whether or not the time is right to join.

Here are the countries that have joined the Euro in the years following the launch of the Euro (1999) and the introduction of Euro notes and coins in common circulation (2002)

• 2007: Slovenia
• 2008: Cyprus and Malta
• 2009: Slovakia
• 2011: Estonia
• 2014: Latvia
• 2015: Lithuania

As of January 2015, there are 19 member nations inside the Euro

So what of the remaining EU countries?

• UK and Denmark have an opt out from the Euro
• Denmark has a managed / fixed exchange rate pegged to the Euro and for their central bank, maintaining this currency peg is the main objective of monetary policy
• Sweden has not joined the Euro but plans to do so once it has met the necessary economic conditions. However there is substantial political opposition to entering the system
• Poland - no target date for joining the Euro, the Polish zloty is not yet within the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM II) and is a floating exchange rate
• Czech Republic - no target date for joining the Euro, the Czech koruna has not yet joined the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM II).
• Hungary - no target date for joining the Euro, the forint is not yet within the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM II).
• Croatia - a new member nation of the EU (2013), the kuna has not yet joined the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM II).
• Bulgaria - not yet a member of the Euro but their currency (the lev) is pegged to the value of the Euro
• Romania - not yet a member, their currency is the leu. Romania has set 2019 as its target year to adopt the euro