What country will be the 21st member of the Euro area?
- Valerie Charoux
- 4 days ago
- 2 min read
Financial News EU - What country will be the 21st member of the Euro area or Eurozone?
1 - What is the Euro area or Eurozone?
The Euro area or Eurozone is comprised of the European member states that use the euro currency. The euro currency started circulating as banknotes and coins on January 1st, 2002, and is the most tangible component of European integration.
The euro is the second most used currency worldwide and 20% of the global foreign exchange reserves are held in euro while 60% of exported goods are invoiced outside the Euro area.
The EU is preparing to launch the Digital Euro to futureproof the currency used in the Euro area. The digital euro will be a digital currency issued by the European Central Bank.
The digital euro would complement cash, not replace it, providing a secure, easy-to-use and cheap way for people to make digital payments across the euro area.
2 - Which are the EU countries that are part of the Euro Area in 2025?
In 2025, there are 20 EU countries in the Euro Area (Eurozone), namely:
Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain.
3 - What country will be the 21st member of the Euro Area (Eurozone)?
The 21st country to become a member of the Euro Area or Eurozone and to use the euro as main currency is Bulgaria that will be the next country to join the euro area as of January 1st, 2026.
One of the three legal acts sets the conversion rate between the euro and the Bulgarian lev at 1.95583 lev per €1. This corresponds to the current central rate of the lev in the exchange rate mechanism (ERM II).
Read more: When will the Digital Euro be launched?
