Slovakia is set to become the 16th member of the eurozone in January following a positive assessment by the European Commission and the European Central Bank.
According to the convergence reports issued last Wednesday, Slovakia meets all the criteria to adopt the euro.
Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said the Commission decided to make a positive assessment to the Council and the European Parliament to accept Slovakia into the euro club.
"Slovakia has achieved a high degree of sustainable economic convergence and is ready to adopt the euro on January 1, 2009.
However, to ensure that the adoption of the euro is a success, Slovakia must pursue its efforts to maintain a low-inflation environment, be more ambitious with regard to budgetary consolidation and strengthen its competitiveness position. It must also speed up its practical preparations to ensure that the changeover takes place smoothly, as it did in Cyprus and Malta in January 2008," Mr Almunia said.
The Council of EU finance ministers (Ecofin) will make the final decision on the adoption of the euro in Slovakia in July after the Parliament has given its opinion and EU heads of state and of government have discussed the subject at their summit meeting in June.
According to the Commission's report, the ex-communist country passed the test in all five main requirements.
The 12-month average inflation in March was 2.2 per cent, well below the reference value calculated at 3.2 per cent for the same month. Public finances are on a sound footing with both deficit and debt well within the acceptable limits for the convergence assessment and the country's long-term interest rate in the year to February 2008 was 4.5 per cent, below the reference value of 6.5 per cent.
The exchange rate and legislation criteria were also met.
Slovakia was the only new EU member state that applied to join the euro next year.
Meanwhile, the Commission on Wednesday also issued reports regarding preparations made by the other non-euro member states to eventually adopt the euro.
According to the Commission, the nine EU countries with a so-called "derogation" have registered progress on the road to the single currency but do not yet meet all the conditions for euro adoption.
The EU member states that have not yet joined the single currency are Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Sweden. The UK, Sweden and Denmark have chosen not to adopt the euro.