Convergence Report reviews Member States’ progress towards joining the euro area
Today, the European Commission published the 2026 Convergence Report assessing the progress that non-euro area Member States have made towards adopting the euro.
More than 27 years after the introduction of the single currency, the euro has become a powerful symbol to the world of Europe’s identity. It is now the currency of 21 Member States, and more than 350 million people use it every day, making it the second most-used currency worldwide. Over the years, the euro has delivered tangible benefits to citizens and businesses by strengthening the Single Market, facilitating trade and investment, and promoting price stability. It has also enhanced the resilience of the euro area through closer economic coordination and stronger financial safeguards, providing a solid foundation for growth, jobs and prosperity across Europe.
Joining the euro area is governed by a set of transparent rules and criteria, ensuring equal treatment for countries on the road to joining the euro and underpinning a successful euro area membership. Today’s report covers the five non-euro area Member States that are legally committed to adopting the euro: Czechia, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Sweden.
The report is based on the convergence criteria, sometimes referred to as the ‘Maastricht criteria’, set out in article 140(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). These include price stability, sound public finances, exchange rate stability and long-term interest rate stability. The report also examines the compatibility of Member States’ national legislation with the Treaty and with the Statutes of the European System of Central Banks and European Central Bank (ECB).
The report concludes that Member States covered in the report display various degrees of nominal convergence:
- Czechia and Sweden fulfil the price stability criterion.
- Czechia and Sweden fulfil the criterion on public finances.
- Czechia and Sweden fulfil the long-term interest rate criterion.
- None of the five Member States is a member of the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM II): at least two years of participation in the mechanism without severe tensions is required before joining the euro area.
Therefore, none of these Member States currently meets all of the criteria for joining the euro area.
The Commission’s assessment is complemented by the ECB’s own Convergence Report, which has also been published today.
Overall assessment of preparedness
National legislation in the monetary field is not fully compatible with the rules of the Economic and Monetary Union in the five non-euro area EU Member States examined.
The Commission has also analysed additional factors referred to in the Treaty that should be taken into account in the assessment of the sustainability of convergence. This analysis found that the non-euro area Member States are generally well-integrated economically and financially in the EU. Nevertheless, some of them show macroeconomic vulnerabilities and/or face challenges related to their business environment and institutional framework which need to be addressed to underpin the sustainability of the convergence process.
Eurobarometer: overall support for the euro in non-euro area Member States
According to the latest Eurobarometer survey, the majority of citizens (57%) in the EU Member States that have yet to adopt the euro think that the common currency has had a positive impact on those countries that already use it. A majority also believe that introducing the euro would have positive consequences for their own country (51%) and for them personally (52%).
Overall, as regards attitudes towards introducing the euro, 52% of respondents are in favour of their country introducing the euro. Support is especially pronounced in Hungary (80%) and Romania (65%), followed by Sweden (51%), Poland (43%) and Czechia (42%). Favourability is picking up particularly strongly in Hungary, up 5 points compared to last year.
The Flash Eurobarometer 583 was conducted between 17 April and 4 May 2026 in the five non-euro area Member States that are legally committed to adopting the euro: Czechia, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Sweden.
Background
The Convergence Report prepared by the European Commission forms the basis for a possible Commission proposal for a Council of the EU decision on the adoption of the euro by a Member State.
The Commission’s report is published in parallel with the convergence report of the ECB.
Convergence reports are issued every two years, or in response to a specific request by a Member State to assess its readiness to join the euro area, e.g. Latvia in 2013, Bulgaria in 2025.
All Member States, except Denmark, are legally committed to join the euro area. Denmark, which negotiated an opt-out arrangement in the Maastricht Treaty, is therefore not covered by the report.
