Czech Republic won't convert to euro until after 2010

It looks like the Czech Republic won't be able to introduce the euro until after 2010 because it won't be able to meet the stability criteria before then. Tomas Nemecek vents his frustration at the delay: "We're not Hungary, which has so many debts that it won't be able to convert to the euro before 2016, and we're not Poland, where the government is letting itself be led by emotions rather than reason. The Czech Republic, with its wealth and its traditionally stable economy, should be just as ambitious as Slovenia, which will be the first post-communist country to adopt the euro. If the Czech budget has a deficit, it's not because we're going through a recession or a war, or because we're building the highest skyscrapers in the world or we want to fly to Mars. The problem is we want everything at the same time – increased benefits for families, larger pensions, new roads and higher salaries. But you can't have everything at the same time – and that's why we won't have the euro in 2010."

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