Romania to set up body in charge of drafting plan for Eurozone entry in 2024

"I think that joining the Eurozone is the most important project since Romania joined the European Union. Therefore, we will issue an emergency decree to set up a national commission that will draft anational plan for the adoption of the euro," Dancila said during the weekly government meeting televised live.

The commission will draft a timetable for Romania's accession to the mechanism for euro adoption and will take the necessary actions to prepare the Romanian economy and society for this important step.The commission will be led by the prime minister and the president of the Romanian Academy, as presidents, while the Romanian central bank governor and the deputy prime minister for economic affairs will act as vice-presidents.

In October, Klaus Regling, the managing director of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), the Eurozone's rescue fund, said that Bulgaria and Romania can join the Eurozone once they have met all membership criteria.

Bulgaria and Romania committed to adopt the euro upon their accession to the European Union in 2007.

In its latest convergence report published in July 2016, the European Central Bank (ECB) said that Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania are among the seven countries that do not meet all the criteria for Eurozone entry.

According to the report, incompatibilities persist regarding central bank independence, in particular central banks' institutional and financial independence, as well as personal independence.

The euro convergence criteria are measured through consumer price inflation, budget deficit, government debt, long-term interest rates and deviation from the central exchange rate.

(1 euro = 4.6651 lei)