The Maastricht Convergence Criteria in detail:

1. Inflation: To be eligible for the membership of the monetary union of the EU, a country’s inflation rate should not exceed the average of the three lowest inflation rates achieved by the EU member countries by more than 1.5 percentage points.

2. Long-term nominal interest rate: It should not exceed the average long-term nominal interest rates observed in the three lowest inflation rate countries by more than 2 percentage points.

3. Budget deficit: It should not exceed 3 percent of GDP.

4. Public debt: It should not exceed 60 percent of GDP.

5. EMS membership: Every member country is supposed to take part in the ERM for at least two years without any devaluation.