The 17th Member of the Eurozone: Estonia

Estonia is set to join the Eurozone on the 1st of January 2011 according to the Irish Times. Estonia was given the all clear by the European Commission. Estonia will be the fifth of the 2004 intake to join the common currency following Slovenia in 2007, Malta and Cyprus in 2008 and Slovakia in 2009.

Plans by Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic are still not on track, so they will not be joining the currency any time soon.

It is interesting considering the current state of the eurozone that it is willing to continue to expand.

The Commission stated that “None of the other eight countries assessed in the report is found to meet all the convergence criteria for adopting the euro” Those countries are: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Sweden.

The Council of Ministers will have to approve this.

Hattip: European Movement Ireland