None of the European Union's 10 new member states yet fulfils the criteria for joining Europe's single currency

None of the European Union's 10 new member states yet fulfils the criteria for joining Europe's single currency, the European Commission said in a report. The EU executive praised efforts by the mostly ex-communist EU newcomers, as well as by Sweden, to prepare their economies to join the 12-nation eurozone. "Satisfying the accession criteria has required a huge effort by all new member states," said EU monetary affairs commissioner Joaquin Almunia, presenting the biennial report in Brussels. "A lot of progress has been made with convergence, but the road to euro membership requires further efforts. I hope that the next report in 2006 provides a good incentive for further progress," he added. Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Cyprus and Malta joined the EU on May 1. All 10 are obliged to adopt the euro at some point. On inflation the report said that five countries -- the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Lithuania and Sweden -- met the eurozone benchmark of being below 2.4 percent in August this year. On budget rigour five of the EU newcomers met the requirement of keeping its public deficit below 3 percent of GDP: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia and Sweden. Of the older EU member states, Britain, Denmark and Sweden have chosen to remain outside the eurozone for now. The Commission's report was released at the same time as an assessment of the Frankurt-based European Central Bank (ECB), the monetary authority in charge of interest rates in the eurozone.