The Romanian strategy on the road to adopt the euro: lessons from Hungary and Slovenia. (23rd March 2009) - Dima, Alina Mihaela
The monetary union undoubtedly brings about economic benefits to its members and fosters harmonious and powerful exchange partnerships, but there is, of course, a tradeoff for all these. Thus, the adoption of the euro poses some challenges that do not outweigh the benefits stemming from it, but certainly make the timing of taking this step towards the absolute economic and monetary union an essential issue. This paper presents the benefits and challenges that come along with the adoption of the euro, underlining that each country has to take advantage of its derogation clause and make sure that giving up their national currency for the stable and powerful euro does not lure them into a painful economic trap. The Maastricht requirements are analysed by emphasising the aspects related to the Romanian economy. The comparative analysis between the Hungarian and Slovenian cases may serve as guidelines in the economic preparation of Romania for European Monetary Union (EMU) accession.