Romania has reached a political agreement to adopt the euro as its national currency, President Nicusor Dan said on July 31, unexpectedly adding the currency switch to a broader agreement on key national priorities.

The political agreement was reached despite the the failure so far by Romania's centrist parties to agree on a new government after the Social Democrats' partly-failed attempt to overthrow Liberal Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan left the government with limited power. 

“The future government, regardless of its political composition, together with the National Bank [of Romania (BNR)] will draw up the roadmap for the coming years including all the necessary actions to switch to the euro,” Dan said in a broadcast statement following Fitch Ratings’ decision to maintain Romania’s sovereign rating at BBB- with a negative outlook.

Dan said the political agreement also covers maintaining Romania’s fiscal trajectory regardless of the composition of the future government and preparing the 2027 budget before the end of this year.

“There is a political agreement to maintain the financial trajectory assumed by Romania, regardless of the political composition of the future Government. There is a political agreement to draft the 2027 budget before the end of this year, to secure predictability, regardless of the political composition of the future government. And there is a political agreement to switch to the euro,” he said.

In February, Dan reaffirmed the objective of joining the euro area and said Romania could meet the criteria for euro adoption within three to four years.

The government had previously set a more specific target. In March 2023, it reconfirmed its objective of adopting the euro in 2029 and indicated 2026 as the target for entering the EU’s Exchange Rate Mechanism II (ERM II), a required step before joining the euro area. Romania’s record budget deficit of 9.3% of GDP in 2024 subsequently pushed euro adoption lower on the policy agenda.

The latest commitment comes as Romania remains far from meeting most of the economic conditions required to adopt the euro. According to the European Commission’s Convergence Report for 2026, published in June, Romania currently meets only the criterion concerning public debt.

The Commission found that Romania does not comply with the criteria covering price stability, budgetary discipline, exchange-rate stability and long-term interest rates. Romanian legislation governing the National Bank of Romania also needs to be harmonised with EU rules.

The roadmap to be prepared by the future government and the central bank will therefore need to address the remaining economic and legal requirements before Romania can join the euro area. Dan did not provide a new target date for the currency switch.