Central and Eastern Europe's Prospects for Euro Adoption

Only 7 of the 27 European Union (EU) countries are not members of the union’s common currency area – the euro area - and most of them are in Central-Eastern Europe (CEE): Bulgaria, Czechia, Hungary, Poland, and Romania. Except for Bulgaria, they are all far from meeting the membership convergence criteria, which is mainly a reflection of their governments’ lukewarm – or sometimes even hostile - attitude towards euro adoption in the past two decades. In contrast, other CEE states opted for an “as-early-as-possible” adoption of the common currency (Slovenia, Slovakia, Croatia, and the three Baltic states).

The time has come to revisit the pros and cons of euro adoption in the CEE region. What is the record of existing EMU-CEE countries under euro area membership? How this compares to their own expectations and to experiences of countries outside the EMU, particularly with regards to the post-pandemic inflation experience? Have plans in non-EMU countries are changing in light of these experiences as well as new challenges such as security issues in the wake of Russia’s war against Ukraine?

This panel of high-level policy makers and academics will look at this question from various complementing angles and will discuss prospects for euro adoption in non-eurozone countries. 

Speakers:

Reiner Martin, Executive Director, National Bank of Slovakia;

Piroska Nagy Mohacsi, Visiting Professor, LSE FLIA;

Atanas Pekanov, Monetary Economist, WIFO Wien and Former Deputy Prime Minister of Bulgaria;

Agnieszka Smolenska, Senior Policy Fellow,Centre for Economic Transition Expertise (CETEx) and Assistant professor, Florence School of Banking and Finance  

Chair: Angelo Martelli, Assistant Professor in European and International Political Economy, LSE European Institute  

Venue: In-person (MAR.1.08, Marshall Building, LSE) and Online Public Event

Hosted by the European Institute, the Centre for Economic Transition Expertise and the LSE SU European Society

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