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The 10 countries that will be joining the European Union (EU) on May 1—Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia—now face a new range of choices related to the challenge of replacing their national currencies with the euro. How quickly should the new members prepare to adopt the euro? How large are the potential benefits and costs of euro adoption? What are the possible drawbacks? These and related questions will be discussed by the following participants:

Susan Schadler (Moderator)
Deputy Director, European Department
International Monetary Fund

Lajos Bokros
Director for Financial Advisory Services
World Bank (& Former Minister of Finance of Hungary)

Peter Kenen
Professor of Economics and International Finance
Princeton University

Hari Vittas
Alternate Executive Director, International Monetary Fund
(Albania, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, San Marino and Timor-Leste)

J. Onno de Beaufort Wijnholds
Permanent Representative, USA
European Central Bank