Not only Croatia but also the euro area will have benefits form our country's entry into that zone, Croatian Finance Minister Zdravko Maric said on Friday in Luxembourg where he arrived to attend a meeting of the EU Economic and Financial Affairs Council (Ecofin).

Economy and finance ministers are expected to complete several steps in the procedure to allow Croatia to join the euro area: they will discuss Croatia’s convergence report and they will adopt the recommendation by the euro area member states to the Council on the adoption of the euro by Croatia on 1 January 2023, state agency Hina said, citing Ecofin’s website.

They will also endorse a letter from the Council Presidency to the European Council on the issue of euro area enlargement.

The letter will be discussed by the European Union’s summit meeting, set for 23 and 24 June.

The draft letter notes that it is important that, after entering the euro area, Croatia should continue to meet the obligations undertaken two years ago when entering the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM II).

Croatia is invited to implement further structural reforms and investments under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan and pursue a sound fiscal policy.

Minister Maric said today that the implementation of the reforms must go on, and it is important both for the economy and the whole society.

We believe that not only Croatia but also the euro area itself will have benefits from admitting Croatia, as its enlargement reinforces its international role, and deeper integrations are beneficial to the European Monetary Union and to the European Union, said Maric.

On Thursday, the Eurogroup endorsed the positive convergence assessment of Croatia, agreeing that Croatia has fulfilled all convergence criteria required to join the euro area, proposing that Croatia should introduce the euro on 1 January 2023.

This is the first step in a process by which the EU Council adopts legal acts that will enable Croatia to become a member of the euro area and to benefit from using the euro.