What are the convergence criteria?
In order to adopt the euro, Member States have to achieve a high degree of sustainable economic convergence. This is assessed on the basis of the fulfilment of the Maastricht convergence criteria set out in Article 121 of the Treaty establishing the European Community and further detailed in a Protocol attached to the Treaty. The criteria entail: • “the achievement of a high degree of price stability”. This means that “a Member State has a price performance that is sustainable and an average rate of inflation, observed over a period of one year before the examination, that does not exceed by more than 1½ percentage points that of, at most, the three best performing Member States in terms of price stability”; • “the sustainability of the government financial position”. This means that, at the time of the examination, the Member State should not be deemed by the Council to have an excessive deficit. The Council decides whether or not an excessive deficit exists by referring to: • the rat
