By Richard Giedroyc, World Coin News February 19, 2010

Perhaps Romania is jumping the gun, but according to a Dec. 12 Romania press release by Agerpres quoting an unnamed source within that nation’s central bank, “As many as 300 trucks with euro [denominated] bank notes and many more with coins are going to travel to Romania by 2012 in preparation for the switch to the euro. After that, the old currency, which is circulating in huge quantities, will have to be pulled from the market. That will be a very difficult process.”

Romania and Bulgaria each joined the European Union Jan. 1, 2007. It is not required that EU members join the EU currency union, but a majority of them either have or are trying to meet the economic criteria to do so. Romania is one of these euro wannabes.

According to the Dec. 12 Romanian Times newspaper, “The Romanian central bank’s main objective was to join the Euro Zone in 2014-2015, [Romanian Central Bank] Governor Mugur Isarescu said in October.”

Requirements necessary to join the currency union are outlined in the Maastricht Treaty. Among those requirements is that the rate of inflation cannot exceed more than 1.5 percent of its level in the best countries regarding price stability. The annual budget deficit of the country applying for membership must stay below 3.0 percent of the gross domestic product, while public debt must remain below 60 percent of the GDP. It was not clear at the time this article was being written if Romania had met these requirements.

The EU had 27 members with almost a half billion people as of January 2007. In addition to the members who are actively using the euro as their common currency there are currently at least 19 other city-states, territories, and other political entities using the euro, each claiming the euro by default since the parent country to which their own currency was linked is now using the euro. These are Akrotiri and Dhekelia, Andorra, Azores, Balearic Islands, Canary Islands, Clipperton Island, French Guiana, French Southern and Antarctic Lands, Guadeloupe, Kosovo (partial), Madeira, Martinique, Mayotte, Monaco, Montenegro, Reunion, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, San Marino, and Vatican City.

Should Romania join the so-called Euro Zone in 2014 to 2015 as was reported by Agerpres the nation would need to determine designs for the national side of its new euro coinage, while bank notes would be needed to be printed with a letter accompanying the serial number that would identify Romania as the nation of issue. To date no information was available regarding if any of this had been planned or done.

It may sound impressive when a bank announces 300 trucks stuffed with euros will be on the way, but there is a lot more planning needed to make this become a reality. Not only must the new currency be introduced, but the old currency must be recalled and disposed of as well. Romania currently uses a system based on 100 bani equal to one leu, with both coins and bank notes in circulation.



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