Nicușor Dan: Rumänien könnte die Bedingungen für den Beitritt zur Eurozone in drei bis vier Jahren erfüllen: „Das wäre für unser Land von Vorteil“

President Nicușor Dan declared on Thursday evening that in the next 3-4 years Romania could meet the conditions for joining the eurozone, stating that this would be beneficial for our country.

„Romania’s transition to the eurozone is beneficial. The more your economy is integrated into an economy that allows companies to operate in large spaces, the more productive those companies will be, the more you will have better-paid jobs in your country.“

„The conditions are the ones we know. To join the euro, you have to have both a deficit and a debt, you have to meet some indicators that we can aim to achieve within a horizon of 3-4 years from now,“ said the head of state, when asked when Romania will join the eurozone.

And Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan explained at the end of January that our country does not yet meet these conditions.

„Romania has had some very large deficits in recent years . Until we reach a deficit quota that is below 3%, this type of problem is not on the agenda. We are in a situation where we are reducing our deficits. The target for this year is approximately 6.2 – 6.3% and we are committed to reducing this deficit to the 3% area by 2030.

„I believe that this topic related to Romania’s accession to the eurozone is a topic that could be a basic one in Romania in the 2028 parliamentary elections, when political forces could reach an agreement, as was reached in previous years when we joined the European Union or NATO, on this priority of joining the EU countries,“ Bolojan declared.

As of 1 January 2026, Bulgaria became the 21st member state of the eurozone , while Romania remained outside the single currency due to high budget deficit, fiscal imbalances and lack of political consensus on adopting the euro.

According to the Eurobarometer survey for the European Commission, in Romania public support for adopting the euro is approximately 59%.

However, the country faces the largest budget deficit in the EU, and stabilising public finances is a major obstacle to accession.

Analysts quoted by Reuters say it will take several years for Romania to stabilize its finances to have a realistic prospect of joining the eurozone.

Furthermore, in the context of high inflation, austerity measures and the rise of the far right ahead of the 2028 elections, the topic of adopting the single currency has disappeared from mainstream public debates.

Downsides outweigh the benefits for weak economies. It perhaps makes sense for the high GDP per capita economies but for a country like Romania it will lead to economic stagnation or weaker growth than with its own currency.

tip-toe around the subject. but better than nothing

Meeting the euro convergence criteria in 3–4 years would be ambitious. The real test will be inflation control and fiscal discipline.

Questions for Romanians – note it’s been a while since I last visited so my memory might be off.

I seem to recall cars and real estate already advertised in euros (and possibly euros only) many years ago. Am I remembering correctly? Is it still the case? [note I wasn’t exactly surprised, I remember the times when people in many countries only really cared about DEM]

And, if it’s true, is there much of a voiced frustration that RON has dropped ~25% in value against EUR in the past ~15 years? Still a bit better than HUF, but does that visible weakening of the currency help make the argument for joining the Eurozone to the general public?

i highly doubt that.

It won’t. Slovakia have been catching Czechia in GDP before joining Euro. After that they growth are visibly slower.