Why the euro?

By acceding to the EU (1 May 2004), Slovenia committed itself to adopting the single European currency - the euro. Even though this commitment is already part of the Accession Treaty, Slovenia as a new member state was obliged to conduct their economic and monetary policies so as to meet the convergence criteria as soon as possible and therefore be prepared for the introduction of the euro.

According to the convergence report of the European Commission and the European Central Bank, issued on 16 May 2006, Slovenia meets the criteria to adopt the euro. So on 1 January 2007 Slovenia became the first new EU member state to introduce the euro, and the thirteenth country to join the euro area. The political decision to enlarge the euro area was taken at the EU summit in Brussels on 15 and 16 June 2006, while the legal basis for Slovenia's entry to the elite economic and monetary union was finalised by EU finance ministers at their meeting on 11 July 2006.