EU monetary affairs commissioner Joaquin Almunia has said that Brussels could in theory take Sweden to Europe’s top court for not joining the euro despite meeting all the economic criteria – but he added that such action “is not necessary or desirable” for now.
In his reply to German centre-right MEP Bernd Posselt in a Strasbourg plenary debate on Tuesday (24 October), Mr Almunia said that “there is no compulsory date” for when countries should enter the single currency and so the commission is not planning to take action to force them to do so.
“This is why, although it is theoretically possible in the future to initiate infringement procedures against states which are not preparing themselves, at the moment we are not considering this necessary, not even desirable,” he said.
Sweden, which entered the EU in 1995, is legally obliged to enter the eurozone, an obligation enshrined in its EU accession treaty as in the case of ten member states that joined the union in 2004.
Non-euro members UK and Denmark, on the other hand, have negotiated an opt-out from the single currency.
The European Commission and the European Central Bank regularly assess the economic performance of countries obliged to join the single currency, with Sweden fulfilling the key criteria on inflation, budgetary deficit and interest rates, according to a report last year. The next assessment is due in November.
But following the no vote in Sweden’s euro referendum in 2003 the issue has not come back onto Stockholm’s agenda, despite the fact that the referendum had a consultative and non-binding force only.
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