ZAGREB, July 3 (Xinhua) -- Croatian Finance Minister Zdravko Maric and Governor of the National Bank of Croatia Boris Vujcic received a permission to send a letter of intent to European Central Bank on entering Croatia into the European Exchange Rate Mechanism Two (ERM II) on Wednesday at the session of the National Council for the introduction of the euro.
The Croatian government will confirm on its Thursday session the decision of the National Council for the introduction of the euro, Minister Maric said after the session of the National Council.
A letter of intent will be sent by the end of this week, and Maric says that the letter will indicate the intent of entering the exchange rate mechanism, as well as the government's commitment plan for the reforms over the next 12 months.
Maric said that there are 19 measures from six different areas, from the strengthening of the Central Bureau of Statistics, the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing, the improvement of the business climate, the improvement of business conditions to the fixing of state property.
The minister expressed hope that the measures to be implemented by 2020 would give results, which is also a precondition of the introduction of the euro.
"ERM II is a step towards the introduction of the euro, and Croatia will be in this exchange mechanism for about two years," said Maric.
During that period, the fulfillment of the Maastricht criteria will be tested, which is the obligation to introduce the euro.
The decision on Croatia's entry into ERM II will be made by the European Central Bank and members of the euro area.
In May 2018, Croatia began the euro-zone entry process, which was set up in the Strategy for the introduction of the euro as the official currency.
