BNR's Isarescu: Romania's joining euro zone, not an option, an obligation

Romania's joining the euro zone "is not an option, it is an obligation", National Bank of Romania (BNR) Governor Mugur Isarescu stated on Thursday, pointing out that this step must be carefully taken, only when our country "a country of great discrepancies" fulfills certain conditions. 

"Bucharest....you know, is you circumscribe it, Ilfov [county, ed.n.] can join in in a year and a half, two. Pretty much all conditions are fulfilled for the Bucharest and Ilfov area," the BNR Governor said, detailing that this part of the country would have the adequate GDP per person and purchasing power. However, he pointed out, Romania is "a country of great discrepancies, with infrastructures that are not connected." "It is a major issue," Isarescu said. 

The BNR Governor took the floor in Mamaia, at the "Black Sea and Balkans Security Forum". Asked about our country's prospect of entering the euro zone, he highlighted that "joining the euro area is not an option, it is an obligation." 

"A deadline hasn't been established yet. As regards the swiftness, it is also a political decision," he announced. 

Isarescu said he doesn't see any "other option" for Romania, although he compared the euro zone to "a house that is not finished", in reference to a statement of the Governor of Poland's Central Bank who said, when the issue of Poland adopting the euro had arisen, that "it is pointless" for his country to rush into entering "a burning house." 

"One cannot overlook that there are issues in the euro zone and we must think things through. On the other hand, the experience of the countries in the south, Portugal, Spain shows that convergence is not automatically created. Meaning you enter there and it will automatically be better for you," Isarescu said. In order to have convergence, that is to reach the level of the countries in the euro zone, a country must have sustainability and fulfill certain development criteria. "You enter there and you feel dirt poor," he illustrated the situation of the countries that do not meet the development criterion and still adopt the euro.