December 21 (SeeNews) - Croatia's government said on Thursday it adopted a draft bill to ratify the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union, otherwise known as the Fiscal Stability Treaty.
The endorsement of the draft means that Croatia has fulfilled the first legal prerequisite towards its accession to the Eurozone and the monetary union, the government said in a press release.
The Fiscal Stability Treaty, which entered into force in January 2013, aims to strengthen the coordination of economic policies and to improve the governance of the euro area. It is a treaty concluded by the Eurozone governments with the aim to reinforce their budget discipline following the sovereign debt crisis that started in 2010.
"Croatia has reached a fairly high level of real convergence over the past two years, along with the already traditional price and exchange rate stability," finance minister Zdravko Maric said.
He added that before Croatia enters the euro area it must also enter the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM II), where it will remain for two years before adopting the euro.
Only three out of the 28 EU member states have not yet signed the Fiscal Stability Treaty - Croatia, the Czech Republic and the UK.