Slovenia welcomes euro

European Union chiefs are expected in Ljubljana today to welcome ex-Yugoslav country Slovenia into the euro club.

European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso, German chancellor Angela Merkel – whose country currently holds the EU presidency – and European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet will attend the celebration, which falls on the 15th anniversary of Slovenia’s independence.

The country of two million introduced the euro on January 1, becoming the 13th nation to use the single European currency – and the only one of the 10 countries that joined the bloc two years ago so far to satisfy the economic criteria needed to join the euro zone.