Estonia ‘likely to be first Baltic eurozone member’
Estonia will be the first of the Baltic states to become a member of the eurozone, it has been predicted.
Writing for the New York Times, Reuters columnist Paul Taylor said many economists believe that all three nations should be admitted now.
He noted that the argument for this is that their combined gross domestic product would only amount to one per cent of the eurozone and therefore could have little negative impact.
Moreover, Mr Taylor noted that there have been complaints that the convergence rules were applied more strictly when denying Lithuania membership in 2007 than in granting it to Italy and Belgium in 1999.
He concluded that EU authorities will only let Estonia in "to avoid creating any precedent for larger newcomers".
Such a situation could mean that Estonia’s property market benefits from the economic stability of eurozone membership and takes investor market share away from Latvia and Lithuania.
Earlier this year, EU commissioner for monetary affairs Joaquin Almunia said the Estonian government was doing the right things to ensure the economy meets its convergence criteria.