Fabio Panetta: The European Central Bank's 2022 Convergence Report

Introductory statement by Mr Fabio Panetta, Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank, at the meeting of the Euro Accession Countries Working Group of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs of the European Parliament, Brussels, 1 June 2022. 

The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.

Thank you for inviting me to discuss our latest ECB Convergence Report.

As foreseen in the EU Treaties, we publish our Convergence Report at least once every two years. The report examines the progress made by non-euro area Member States towards satisfying the necessary conditions for adopting the single currency. Specifically, it assesses whether a high degree of sustainable economic convergence has been achieved. Moreover, it examines whether the national legislation is compatible with the EU Treaties (including our Statute), and whether the statutory requirements are fulfilled for the relevant national central bank to become an integral part of the Eurosystem.

Our assessment is independent from the Commission's assessment, which has just been presented to you by Executive Vice-President Dombrovskis. I will now briefly discuss our conclusions on the state of economic and legal convergence. I will then focus on our assessment of Croatia.