It is of the utmost importance that countries adopting the euro have demonstrated that they have sufficiently converged towards the euro area for this convergence to be sustainable. As you know, the necessary conditions for this are set out clearly in the Treaty.
Later this year, in the autumn, the ECB and the European Commission will again publish their regular Convergence Reports, as required by the Treaty. As on previous occasions, these Reports will examine the readiness of countries with a derogation to adopt the euro and will therefore cover the ten new Member States and Sweden.