A European Commission report has found that none of the EU's 10 new member states yet fulfils the criteria for joining Europe's single currency.
The commission praised efforts by the mostly ex-communist EU newcomers, as well as by Sweden, to prepare their economies to join the euro zone.
'Satisfying the accession criteria has required a huge effort by all new member states,' said EU monetary affairs commissioner Joaquin Almunia, presenting the biennial report in Brussels. He said progress had been made with convergence, but the road to euro membership required further efforts.
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Cyprus and Malta joined the EU on May 1. All 10 are obliged to adopt the euro at some point.
On inflation the report said that five countries - the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Lithuania and Sweden - met the euro zone benchmark of being below 2.4% in August this year.
Five met the requirement of keeping their public deficit below 3% of GDP: Estonia, Latvia,
Lithuania, Slovenia and Sweden.
