Malta's euro bid may test EU public debt criteria

Malta on Monday (26 February) followed Cyprus in officially announcing its bid to join the euro next year with the country's Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi set to submit the application at the meeting of EU finance ministers on Tuesday in Brussels.

Mr Gonzi said Malta "has been progressively achieving the targets that we set," as its public deficit is predicted to be 2.4 percent of GDP in 2007 (below the EU's 3 percent target), and inflation at 1.6 percent for the same year (below the EU...