Latvijas un Horvātijas valsts karogi pie Rīgas pils. Foto - Evija Trifanova, LETA
Since expansion of the Eurozone hasn’t happened since Lithuania joined 7 ½ years ago, I found it timely with just a few words on the latest newcomer, Croatia, incidentally also the last country to join the EU back in 2013.
The ECB’s biennial Convergence Report assessed Croatia favourably in terms of the accession criteria (inflation, fixed exchange rate, long-term interest rates, government budget deficit and government debt) as can be seen from this ECB press release from 1 June 2022 so it comes as no surprise that today (12 July 2022) the Council of the European Union formally approved Croatia’s accession.
No country, which has been favourably assessed by an ECB Convergence Report, has ever been rejected; the only rejection ever following a negative assessment was given to Lithuania (sorry for reminding you) in 2006 due to the country not meeting the inflation criterion.
