The Czech cabinet has pledged to check up on its readiness to join the single European currency. While political division prevents it from opting in right now, the ‘Maastricht criteria’ is tabled for discussion.
Prospective users of the euro as their national currency are set a series of benchmarks, including price stability, interest rates on long-term government bonds, deficit levels, and public debt. Czechia has met these, but would need exchange rate stability, demonstrated by membership of the European Union’s exchange rate mechanism, ERM II.
Although Czechia formally committed to joining the euro zone when it became an EU member state in 2004, nearly three-quarters of Czechs oppose adopting the euro, with—according to recent polls—public enthusiasm for the currency struggling to achieve 25%. Opposition ANO leader Karel Havlíček said that with the euro, Czechia would become dependent on the European Central Bank in times of economic crisis—in effect, surrendering control over national monetary policy.
In 2023, Croatia became the euro zone’s newest member.
