EU accepts Croatia as 20th eurozone member

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - The EU on Tuesday accepted Croatia as the 20th eurozone member, allowing it to adopt the single currency from January 2023.

In a statement, the European Council said it adopted the final three legal acts that are required to enable Croatia to introduce the euro.

One of the acts set the conversion rate for entry at one euro to 7.53450 Croatian kuna.

Zbyněk Stanjura, the finance minister of Czechia, which holds the current six-month rotating presidency of the EU, congratulated his Croatian counterpart. "Adopting the euro is not a race, but a responsible political decision," he said. "Croatia has successfully completed all the required economic criteria and they will pay in euros as of 1 January 2023."

Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. Neighboring Slovenia, also an ex-Yugoslav republic and now part of EU, adopted the euro in 2007.