It is more important for Romania to join the Euro zone than the Schengen area, president Klaus Iohannis said, quoted by Economica.net.

“It is more important for Romania to join the Euro zone but we need to have economic performances,” Iohannis said, when asked which area is a priority for the country.

Iohannis also said it was not up to the president or the Central Bank (BNR) to have the Euro zone ambition, but up to the Finance Ministry.

“The Finance Ministry is the leader, it should come from them, […] but I did not see the desire. There was no such desire with Ponta [e.n. government], neither with Ciolos or Grindeanu,” he said.

Romania hasn’t finalized the structural reforms it committed to, and can’t think about joining the euro zone before doing that, Angela Filote, head of the European Commission’s Representation in Romania, said this August. She pointed out that the countries that joined the euro zone more recently had a GDP per capita between 67% and 70% of the EU average. Romania’s is at 60% of the average GDP per capita in the EU.

In September, the European Commission officially asked the European leaders to accept Romania and Bulgaria in the Schengen area. The EC argued that both countries have demonstrated their capacity to defend EU’s borders. In November, the EC said that the decision on Romania and Bulgaria accession to the Schengen area had been postponed for next year.

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editor@romania-insider.com