•  Finally, in the steady state, 4 new member countries are expected to become member of the second group while many of the remaining countries will gradually move from the third to the second group as real convergence, or "catching up" in plain English, progresses.
In this respect, the ECB proposal also strikes a fair balance between current and new members, an important point I wish to emphasise here in Prague. 6  BIS Review 16/2003