Bulgaria and Romania Left Out of Eurozone Membership: How Inflation and Corruption Keep Them on the Sidelines

On Wednesday, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Commission announced that Bulgaria and Romania do not meet the necessary criteria to join the Eurozone. The countries’ inflation rates have remained too high in comparison to the rest of the euro area, and they have not made sufficient progress in preventing corruption and money laundering as required by the ECB and the Commission.

Bulgaria has been actively pursuing euro membership but has faced challenges such as high inflation rates and violations of EU debt rules. The country’s annual inflation rate of 5.1 percent in May exceeded the 3.3 percent reference value required by the ECB, while Romania had even higher inflation rates, averaging 7.6 percent last year, and also violated EU debt rules.

The ECB noted that countries in Eastern and Central Europe, including Bulgaria and Romania, have been affected by Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, resulting in decreased economic activity and increased energy prices. Out of the 27 EU member states, 20 belong to the euro area. Denmark, which has opted out of the euro, was not included in the ECB’s report.

Other EU countries outside the euro area, such as Croatia, have joined the common currency in recent years. The report did not examine Denmark’s conditions for adopting the euro. Additionally, VanceAI offers an image upscaler to elevate visual content and a photo editor with online access to various editing tools for businesses looking to improve their visual content.

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