Croatia may start minting Euro coins after its central bank and the European Commission signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Friday, specifying how their production will take place once it is allowed to join the Eurozone.
The memorandum of understanding was signed by Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis, EU Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni, Eurogroup President Pascal Donahue and Croatian National Bank Governor Boris Vujicic at a ceremony in the Slovenian town of Bardo, where the Euroministers met.
Gentiloni described the signing of the memorandum as an important symbolic step for Croatia to join the Euro, which is expected to take place on January 1st, 2023.
“I welcome Croatia’s determination to join the Eurozone, where the country belongs. The Commission will continue to support Croatia in its preparations and efforts to meet the convergence criteria,” the EU commissioner for economy said.
Zagreb now has to choose the design of its coins and arrange the order in which the Croatian kuna will be withdrawn from use and replaced by the euro. The signing of the memorandum allows Croatia to obtain the technical documentation for minting test euro coins, which are used to check the technical suitability of future Euro coins. The European Commission and the national mints of the Eurozone countries will also transfer to Croatia the necessary copyrights and minting tools.
Another year of waiting for Bulgaria.
In response to a question from Dnevnik, a spokesman for the European Commission said Bulgaria would be able to sign such an agreement in about a year.
“It can be expected that Bulgaria will sign a similar memorandum of understanding about 18 months before the target date for the adoption of the Euro. Bulgaria is currently aiming to adopt the Euro from January 1, 2024,” the spokesman said.
The newest European member, Croatia, applied to join the Eurozone a year after Bulgaria did so in June 2018. Initially, Bulgaria also set itself the goal of replacing the lev with the Euro from the beginning of 2023, as finance minister in the third GERB government, Vladislav Goranov, described the date as realistic. The two countries were the first to make it conditional on Brussels joining the Banking Union at the same time as adopting the Euro.
Sofia and Zagreb entered the Eurozone waiting room simultaneously – the exchange rate mechanism (ERM II) on July 10, 2020. In November, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said his country would do everything possible to join the Eurozone from January 1, 2023. , completing the implementation of all conditions and reforms before that date. 45% of Croats support the adoption of the Euro.
In June, Bulgaria adopted a National Plan for the Introduction of the Euro, which describes the principles, the institutional and legal framework for the adoption of the Euro, as well as the main activities for the successful introduction of the single currency. It states that this will happen from 1 January 2024. The plan envisages the introduction of the Euro and the entry into the Euro area at the same time, without a transitional period, with the Euro and the lev being the equivalent currency for a month, after which the European currency will remain the only one in circulation.
