The European Union's Economic and Financial Affairs Council (Ecofin) on Tuesday adopted final three legal acts enabling Croatia to introduce the euro as its currency on 1 January 2023.

One of the legal acts sets the conversion rate between the euro and the Croatian kuna at 7.53450 kuna for 1 euro. The rate corresponds to the current central rate of the kuna in the exchange rate mechanism (ERM II).

Another of the three acts concerns the decision on the adoption of the euro by Croatia, while the third is an amendment to a regulation welcoming Croatia as the 20th member of the euro area as of next year.

The euro area has a population of more than 340 million and is the second strongest economy in the world, accounting for 15% of the global GDP.

“I would like to congratulate my counterpart, Zdravko Maric, and the whole of Croatia for becoming the 20th country to join the euro area. Adopting the euro is not a race, but a responsible political decision. Croatia has successfully completed all the required economic criteria and they will pay in euros as of 1 January 2023, ” said Zbyněk Stanjura, the minister of finance of the Czech Republic, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency.