No prospective euro members meet criteria to join, ECB says

None of the countries that have yet to join the euro meet all accession criteria and many have even diverged from the long-set rules of euro membership, the European Central Bank has said in a report on prospective members.

All EU members except for Denmark are required to adopt the common currency but non-compliance is not penalized, so only a few are actively working on joining, with most others preferring to retain the leverage yielded by independent monetary policy.

"Reflecting challenging economic conditions, limited progress has been made as regards compliance with the convergence criteria," the ECB said in a biennial progress report on Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Sweden.

But the issues are far deeper than just meeting economic criteria, the ECB added.

"The quality of institutions and governance is relatively weak in...