Accession of Cyprus and Malta to euro area (2008)

From 1 January 2008, the euro will be the official currency in Cyprus and Malta. Through these Decisions, adopted in July 2007, the Council of the European Union gives the go-ahead for the introduction of the single currency in these two Member States. These States, which joined the Union on 1 May 2004, will increase the number of Member States participating in the euro area from 13 to 15. The European Union has a total of 27 Member States.

ACTS

Council Decision 2007/503/EC of 10 July 2007 in accordance with Article 122(2) of the Treaty on the adoption by Cyprus of the single currency on 1 January 2008.

Council Decision 2007/504/EC of 10 July 2007 in accordance with Article 122(2) of the Treaty on the adoption by Malta of the single currency on 1 January 2008.

SUMMARY

In these two Decisions, the Council states that Cyprus and Malta satisfy all the conditions required to adopt the euro:

• Cyprus and Malta satisfy the requirements established by the convergence criteria: price stability, the government budgetary position, participation in the exchange mechanism of the European monetary system, the existence of a satisfactory long-term interest rate;
• Cyprus and Malta have national legislation which is compatible with the introduction of the euro.

Consequently, the Council chose the date of 1 January 2008 for these two Member States to adopt the euro.

Procedure

During its meeting of 10 July 2007, the Economic and Monetary Affairs Council gave the go-ahead for the introduction of the euro in Cyprus and Malta. Prior to that, the European Commission had established in the convergence reports that both States fulfilled the membership criteria for the Economic and Monetary Union.

These Decisions are addressed to the Member States. They stipulate that Cyprus and Malta fulfil the necessary conditions for the adoption of the single currency. They repeal the derogations in favour of the two countries referred to in Article 4 of the 2003 Act of Accession.

The Council decides which Member States fulfil the necessary conditions for the adoption of the euro, i.e. compatibility of their national legislation with the Community acquis and the convergence criteria set out in Article 140 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (formerly Article 121 of the EC Treaty). The two proposals presented by the Commission on 16 May 2007 (Cyprus: CNS/2007/0090 and Malta: CNS/2007/0092) resulted in the present Decisions.

RELATED ACTS

Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee, the Committee of the Regions and the European Central Bank of 18 April 2008 on the introduction of the euro in Cyprus and Malta [COM(2008) 204 final – Not published in the Official Journal].

The Commission presents the results of the introduction of the single currency in Cyprus and Malta. It draws lessons from these for future changeovers to the euro (link to new summary EC000) in European Union Member States.

See also

• Further information is available on the Internet site of the European Commission, Directorate-General (DG) for Economic and Financial Affairs:

Last updated: 17.10.2011