Savvy Traveler: Eurozone vs. European Union

People who come to Eastern Europe (or East Central Europe--as those who like to remove themselves from any association with Russia--call Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic now) often wonder why even if they are in the EU, they can't use euros here. Nothing is ever easy with the EU, is it.

There are 27 member states in the EU, yet only 13 of them have entered stage 3 of their EU membership: adoption of the Euro currency.

Here are the EU countries NOT using the Euro:

• United Kingdom
• Denmark
• Sweden
• Czech Republic
• Bulgaria
• Romania
• Hungary
• Poland
• Cyprus
• Estonia
• Latvia
• Lithuania
• Malta
• Slovakia

However, only Denmark and the UK negotiated a Euro exclusion from the original Maastricht Treaty.

The rest of the countries must legally join the Eurozone sooner or later, whether it is an economic advantage to them or not. The Czech Republic, for example is trying to postpone the Euro adoption as long as possible (fears of inflation) while Slovakia wants to be on the Euro as quickly as possible (hopes for new business opportunities). What everyone agrees on is that adopting the Euro makes everything more expensive for the consumer...and for the tourist.

Filed under: Europe, Savvy Traveler