President Estland over invoering euro: Estland is terug in Europa (en) - Hoofdinhoud

As of 1 January 2011, Estonia officially becomes a member of the eurozone. The Baltic State is the 17th EU Member State to join the eurozone, raising its total population to 330 million citizens. Estonia "has arrived in Europe again" — said President Thomas Hendrik Ilves i on the historic event.

Estonia phases in euro notes and coins on 1 January but the Estonian kroon will also remain in use for an additional two weeks. The fixed exchange rate pegs one euro to 15.6466 Estonian kroon. After the national currency is phased out in January, it will still be compulsory to indicate shop prices in kroon as well until 30 June 2011.

Expanding eurozone

The eurozone, one of the greatest achievements of the European Union, was set up in 1999, when 11 Member States introduced the common currency — initially, only as an accounting currency. Greece joined the area in 2001, and in 2002, the members of the eurozone completely abandoned their national currencies, replacing them with the euro in cash transactions as well.

Estonia is the fifth of the "new" Member States (countries that joined the EU since 2004) to introduce the euro. The first was Slovenia on 1 January 2007, followed by Cyprus and Malta a year later and Slovakia on 1 January 2009. It should be noted that Estonia is the first of the former Soviet republics to introduce the euro.

The unfavourable economic events of recent months have shown that the financial difficulties of a single Member State can disturb the financial equilibrium of the entire EU. This is especially true of the eurozone, which is still not clear of danger after the Greek and Irish bailouts.

The Presidency focuses on economic governance

The Member States of the EU have agreed to coordinate their economic policies more closely in the future, setting up a system of ’economic governance’ in the Union. The central elements of economic governance are macroeconomic supervision, increased budgetary discipline, the cyclical coordination of economic policies based on the six-month presidency cycles, the creation of a permanent crisis management framework and the strengthening of the relevant institutions. During the last European Council meeting, a decision was made to set up a permanent European Stability Mechanism, which requires a limited amendment of the Lisbon Treaty during the Hungarian Presidency i.

The highest priority issues of the Hungarian Presidency include: making progress in the debates on the six legislative proposals on economic governance submitted by the Commission in September 2010, to promote Council discussion of the planned Treaty amendment and to launch a successful European Semester in the first half of 2011.