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Because it's legally required by treaty. Of course, the EU often ignores its own treaties. So that's not a hard guarantee. But the first rule of the EU is that
by mike_hearn 2y ago
Because it's legally required by treaty.
Of course, the EU often ignores its own treaties. So that's not a hard guarantee. But the first rule of the EU is that everyone has to pretend it follows its own rules even when it doesn't, so it's not like Icelandic leaders can just announce they'll join the EU but won't adopt the Euro.
- thih9 2y ago> Since the convergence criteria requires participation in ERM II for a minimum of two years, and non-eurozone member states are responsible for deciding when to join ERM II, they can delay their compliance with the criteria by not joining ERM II. > Denmark has a treaty opt-out from the obligation to join the eurozone even if it complies with all criteria. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enlargement_of_the_eurozone https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enlargement_of_the_eurozone
- cabalamat 2y agoEU countries are not required to join the Euro. They are required to say they will at some unspecified future date, but that's another matter.
- woodpanel 2y agoWhat a ridiculous policy by itself.
- mike_hearn 2y agoThis is angels-on-pins level stuff, though. In normal English lax enforcement of a rule doesn't mean you're not required to obey it. It just means you're gambling that you won't be put under sufficient pressure to crack your resolve. All EU countries have to publicly commit to joining the Euro and doing the work to do so. They are therefore required to join it, under any reasonable interpretation of the treaty language. The fact that some countries realized they could just not do what they agreed to and/or hack their economy to avoid the entry criteria, without any consequences, is good evidence that the treaties are indeed meaningless. But lax enforcement isn't the same as no requirement. The EU Commission could change their stance at any time.
- dfawcus 2y agoIt is not just down to Commission interpretation. It has been a while since I last looked at this, but from memory a pre-condition for Euro adoption is spending a certain amount of time within some formal "convergence mechanism", however there is no obligation to join that convergence mechanism. This could well be ERM-II which I have in mind.
- mike_hearn 2y agoI think you are required to join it, but proceeding to actual Euro rollout requires a currency to be within a certain range for a period of time, and that requires active intervention in currency markets. Governments can just either not do it or claim they can't intervene enough to stay on target.