EU economic and financial affairs ministers are planning to support Estonia's entry into the euro area as of 1 January 2011 in their next meeting, on the grounds of positive reports already published by the European Commission (EC) and the European Central Bank.

On 12 May, the EC published its convergence report, in which it was highlighted that the Baltic country "clearly" complies with the required macroeconomic criteria.

In this document, the Commission also indicated that among the nine EU members aspiring to join the euro (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Sweden), Estonia is the only one to meet these requirements.

To enter the monetary union, candidates are required to have streamlined public finances, price and exchange rate stability, convergence of long-term interest rates and a national legislation on monetary affairs that is totally compatible with the European treaties, especially in relation to national central bank independence.

It is planned that the president-in-turn of the Ecofin Council, the Spanish Minister of Economy and Finance Elena Salgado, will address a letter to the president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, recommending that leaders authorise the entry of Estonia into the single currency.

The enlargement of the euro area will be discussed at the next summit of European leaders, to be held in Brussels on 17 June, in order to finally receive formal approval from the Council during the Ecofin meeting on 13 July.

Should the process be completed without problems, the euro area will include 17 countries as of 1 January 2011, the date on which Estonia will adopt the euro as its currency. Slovakia has been the last country that joined the Eurozone, in 2009, on the 10th anniversary of the currency.