Book Description

The Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) is the framework of economic policies covering the EU – including both eurozone and non-eurozone countries. The principal long-term aim of the EMU is the economic convergence for the EU over three successive stages. Once a country reaches the third stage it is permitted to adopt the euro as its official currency. The adoption of the euro is a requirement of EU membership, and all Member States must adopt the common currency once they have satisfied the necessary criteria defined in the Maastricht Treaty (with the exception of Denmark and the UK, which have an opt-out from these Treaty provisions). There is no fixed timetable for the introduction of the euro, but the Treaty does require countries to join the euro area at a certain point. The countries currently awaiting to adopt the common currency are Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Sweden. Of the countries that joined the EU in or after 2004, Slovenia, Cyprus and Malta joined the euro area in 2007 and 2008; Slovakia followed in January 2009; Estonia joined in January 2011; Latvia joined in 2014; and Lithuania adopted the currency on 1 January 2015. Having joined the European Union in 1995, at least nine years prior to the other countries in this survey, attitudes and opinions are occasionally quite different for Sweden. Therefore, the average that comprises all seven countries should be compared to previous editions of this study with caution. This survey is the 21st in a series which began in 2004 and has helped the European Commission to track opinion, levels of knowledge and familiarity with the single currency among citizens regarding the future introduction of the common currency in their country. The report looks at: - levels of knowledge about and experience of the euro among citizens in the seven countries covered by the survey; - citizens’ feelings about how well they have been informed about the euro and their preferred information channels for learning more about it; - citizens’ perceptions of, and support for, the single currency; - and their expectations about the adoption of the euro both for themselves and for their country, and any potential positive or negative consequences they imagine.