Romania and the euro

Romania is required by its EU accession agreement to replace the current national currency, the Romanian leu, with the euro, as soon as Romania fulfills all of the six nominal euro convergence criteria. The leu is not yet part of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM II), of which minimum two years of stable membership is one of the six nominal convergence criteria to comply with to qualify for euro adoption. The current Romanian government in addition established a self-imposed criteria to reach a certain level of "real convergence", as a steering anchor to decide the appropriate target year for ERM II-membership and euro adoption. As of August 2017, the earliest feasible date for euro adoption in Romania is 2022, according to Romania's foreign minister Teodor Meleșcanu.

To simplify future adjustments to ATMs after the adoption of the euro, when the Romanian new leu replaced the old leu in 2005 (at 10,000 old lei to 1 new leu) the new banknotes were the same physical dimensions as euro banknotes, except the 200 lei note, which had no euro size correspondent, and the 500 lei note, which was the same dimension as the €200 note.

In May 2006, it was announced that the Romanian government planned to join the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM), a prerequisite for euro adoption, only after 2012. The president of the ECB said in June 2007, that "Romania has a lot of homework to do ... over a number of years" before joining ERM II. The Romanian government announced in December 2009, that they now officially planned to join the eurozone by 1 January 2015. In April 2011, the Romanian government announced it would strive to comply with the first four convergence criteria by 2013, but would not be ready to join the ERM II before 2013–2014.

EIU analysts suggested in May 2012, that 2016-2017 would be the earliest realistic dates for Romania's adoption of the euro. However, in October 2012, Valentin Lazea, the NBR chief economist, said that "the adherence of Romania to euro currency in 2015 is difficult for Romania". The governor of the National Bank of Romania confirmed in November 2012, that Romania would not meet its previous target of joining the eurozone in 2015. He mentioned that it had been a financial benefit for Romania to not be a part of the euro area during the European debt-crisis, but that the country in the years ahead would strive to comply with all the convergence criteria. Concerns about its workforce productivity were also been cited for the delay.

...
Wikipedia