A letter of intent for Croatia's membership of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM II) would be sent during the second quarter of 2019, the central bank governor, Boris Vujcic, announced on Monday.

In his reply to reporters after he delivered a lecture on Croatia’s prospects of joining the euro zone in Zagreb, Vujcic said that the letter, the first step on the road to replacing the local currency kuna with the euro, would most likely be sent “sometime in the second quarter of this year,” i.e. in the period from April to June.

“In any case, first there will be a report from the European Commission, then we will continue talks with our partners – the European Central Bank, the European Commission, and the Eurogroup – and after that we will decide on an exact date to send in the letter,” Vujcic said.

Asked if Croatia could be expected to join the exchange rate mechanism by 2020, Vujcic confirmed that this was a tentative time frame, but added that he would prefer not to speculate about an exact date.

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