European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Joaquin Almunia has announced that the European Commission will publish the euro convergence report for Slovenia on 16 May, which would give the country enough time to carry out all the preparations for eurozone entry on 1 January 2007.
"That way, the EU summit in June can say whether the country is meeting the euro criteria. I hope the assessment will be positive and we can welcome a new member to the eurozone," Almunia said after Monday's meeting of the eurozone finance ministers.
Slovenia requested an early report two weeks ago, as a joint convergence report for all euro candidates is to be drafted in October, which would be late for Slovenia's planned 1 January 2007 switchover.
Almunia stressed that the Commission's report would not deal with Slovenia's political readiness to adopt the euro, but only provide an assessment of whether it is meeting the convergence criteria for the introduction of the single European currency.
Meanwhile, Almunia stressed on Tuesday that economic indicators showed Slovenia was on track for eurozone membership.
The commissioner, speaking on the sidelines of a meeting of EU finance ministers, would not speculate on whether anything could still endanger the country's efforts to adopt the euro.
Finance Minister Andrej Bajuk welcomed the decision to grant Slovenia's request for an early assessment, saying it would allow Slovenia to carry out all the technical preparations for the euro switch in time. Meanwhile, Almunia and Bajuk were just two of the participants at a conference on the euro held in Ljubljana on Friday, 17 March. At the conference, Almunia stressed that Slovenia's work in monetary policy will far from have been completed once the country joins the eurozone. Ensuring the sustainability of its pension system will be one of Slovenia's key priorities in the future, he said.
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