Czech Republic Not to Join Eurozone Before 2020 – PM

Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka and President Miloš Zeman agreed at their meeting in Prague Wednesday agreed that more debate on adopting the euro was needed and that it would be appropriate to set a date for the Czech Republic's adoption of the single currency.

Sobotka again supported the year 2020 as the nearest possible date when the country could join the eurozone. However, he said there is no agreement on setting such a date within the government coalition, ČTK news agency reported.

"The Czech Republic should advance the debate on adopting the euro — that it would be appropriate to set a concrete date for adopting the single European currency and gradually work on creating conditions for the adoption," Sobotka said.

From the government coalition members, the centrist ANO movement in particular, headed by Finance Minister Andrej Babiš, is against the Czech Republic adopting the single currency.

President Milos Zeman, for his part, is a long-standing supporter of the country joining the euro area, and he believes that technically, this can be done within the next two or three years.

Zeman's spokesman Jiří Ovčáček said the timetable of adopting the euro would be discussed when President Zeman and the representatives of the government and the Czech National Bank meet later this year.