"Romania can announce now that it has reached a political consensus on joining the Eurozone. Both the president and the prime minister have announced that the target for the accession is 2019. An ambitious goal that can be used as an anchor for economic policies" Isărescu said quoted by Mediafax.
Isărescu has not confirmed that the central bank has assumed this objective, focusing on the fact that the benefits of membership do require some prerequisites and require more efforts and structural reforms to allow as much real convergence, which proved increasingly important after the financial crisis in 2008.
The governor has noted that although Romania currently ranks well in terms of the Maastricht nominal criteria, real indicators are still significantly below the European average.
According to the central bank governor, although achieving the price stability criterion is a matter of a few months, Romania still has a lot to do in terms of structural reforms, giving the example of the labor market.
"Some economists say that meeting the nominal criteria is inconsistent with the real convergence. Now it is clear that the nominal criteria cannot be achieved without financial stability and high competitiveness (...). A big difference in terms of real convergence puts pressure on the business environment" Isărescu said.
Isărescu believes that the first step towards joining the euro is the accession to the Banking Union a process that will strengthen the financial stability and increase confidence by harmonizing regulations and supervisory rules as well as the guaranteeing scheme.