Romania could join the euro zone in 2022, once the incomes of the country’s poorest citizens rise, said Romanian foreign minister Teodor Melescanu.

“Already today we meet all the formal requirements, we could join the currency union even tomorrow. But we’re afraid that it will have a negative effect on the poorest, pensioners’ incomes,” Melescanu told Polish Rzeczpospolita daily, reports Reuters.

He added: “I think that we will adopt the euro in five years, in 2022.”

According to the Romanian minister, Romania is one of the fastest growing economies within the European Union, with gross domestic product expected to expand by 5.5-5.6% in 2017. However, the country is still one of the poorest EU members.

Angela Filote, the head of the European Commission’s Representation in Romania, recently said that Romania hasn’t finalized the structural reforms it committed to, which are extremely important, and can’t think about joining the euro zone before doing that.

Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com