On 24 June, the European Commission published the 2026 Convergence Report, which assesses the progress made by Member States outside the euro area towards adopting the euro.
More than 27 years after the introduction of the single currency, the euro has become a powerful symbol of Europe’s identity in the world. It is now the currency of 21 Member States, and more than 350 million people use it every day, making it the second most widely used currency in the world. Over the years, the euro has brought tangible benefits to citizens and businesses by strengthening the single market, facilitating trade and investment, and promoting price stability. It has also strengthened the resilience of the euro area through closer economic coordination and more robust financial safeguards, providing a solid foundation for growth, employment and prosperity across Europe.
Membership of the euro area is governed by a set of transparent rules and criteria, which ensure equal treatment for countries on the path to adopting the euro and underpin the success of euro area membership. Today’s report covers the five Member States outside the euro area that are legally committed to adopting the euro: the Czech Republic, 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 the stability of long-term interest rates. The report also examines the compatibility of Member States’ national legislation with the Treaty and with the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank (ECB).
The report concludes that the Member States covered by the report show varying degrees of nominal convergence:
- The Czech Republic and Sweden fulfil the price stability criterion.
- The Czech Republic and Sweden fulfil the criterion relating to public finances.
- The Czech Republic 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’ participation in the mechanism without serious tensions is required before joining the euro area.
Consequently, none of these Member States currently meets all the criteria for joining the euro area.
The Commission’s assessment is complemented by the ECB’s own Convergence Report, which was published also on 24 June.
Overall assessment of readiness
National legislation in the monetary field is not fully compatible with the rules of Economic and Monetary Union in the five non-euro area EU Member States under review.
The Commission has also analysed other factors mentioned in the Treaty that must be taken into account when assessing the sustainability of convergence. This analysis showed that, in general, Member States outside the euro area are well integrated economically and financially within the EU. However, some of them exhibit macroeconomic vulnerabilities or face challenges relating 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 Member States outside the euro area
According to the latest Eurobarometer survey, the majority of citizens (57 per cent) in EU Member States that have not yet adopted the euro believe that the single currency has had a positive impact on the countries that already use it. The majority also believe that the introduction of the euro would have positive consequences for their own country (51 per cent) and for themselves personally (52 per cent).
Overall, as regards attitudes towards the introduction of the euro, 52 per cent of those surveyed are in favour of their country adopting the euro. Support is particularly strong in Hungary (80 per cent) and Romania (65 per cent), followed by Sweden (51 per cent), Poland (43 per cent) and the Czech Republic (42 per cent). Support is rising particularly strongly in Hungary, with an increase of 5 points compared with last year.
Flash Eurobarometer 583 was carried out between 17 April and 4 May 2026 in the five Member States outside the euro area that are legally committed to adopting the euro: the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Sweden.
Background
The Convergence Report drawn up by the European Commission forms the basis for a possible Commission proposal for a decision by the Council of the EU on the adoption of the euro by a Member State.
The Commission’s report is published alongside the ECB’s convergence report.
Convergence reports are published every two years, or in response to a specific request from a Member State to assess its readiness to join the euro area, for example, Latvia in 2013 and Bulgaria in 2025.
All Member States, except Denmark, are legally committed to joining the euro area. Consequently, Denmark, which negotiated an opt-out clause in the Maastricht Treaty, is not covered by the report.
More information: European Commission
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