Compliance with the Euro Area Financial Criteria and Economic Convergence in the European Union in the Period 2000-2023

The two groups of EU economies: the euro area and the non-euro area, are statistically analyzed taking into account the fulfillment of the euro area financial criteria and economic performance over the period 2000-2023. Economic performances and their significant influencing factors, as well as compliance with financial criteria, are presented comparatively for the two groups of countries. Econometric approaches with Error Correction Model (ECM) and Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model of the three data panels, including the entire EU, during the analyzed period led to interesting conclusions regarding the existence of economic convergence at the level of the three groups. EU non-euro countries have higher economic growth rates than euro area economies over the period 2000-2023. In the long run, investment brings a higher increase in economic development in EU countries outside the euro area than in euro area countries. The speed of adjustment towards long-run equilibrium in econometric models is slower for non-euro area economies than in the euro area over a one-year period. At the level of the European Monetary Union, change policies have a faster impact on economic development and a faster speed of adjustment towards equilibrium.