THE PROSPECT OF THE ACCESSION OF ROMANIA TO THE EUROPEAN MONETARY UNION - AN APPROACH IN TERMS OF REAL CONVERGENCE

Joining the European Monetary Union and adopting the unique currency - euro requires the states to meet a set of real and nominal convergence criteria. Although the real convergence criteria are not mentioned in the Treaty of Maastricht, they planned a major contribution to the success of adopting a common currency by a European Union member state, especially in recording a great relation between benefits and costs. Starting from this consideration, we decided to conduct an assessment of the level of accomplishment of real convergence criteria by Romania in this moment, taking into account a comparative approach in the Euro zone and at the level of non- European Union countries members of the Euro zone, for the real convergence criteria analyzed.