In its latest episode, “Nine EU states could still adopt the euro. But why would they?”, Real Economy examines the prospects for the euro area amidst recent political and economic turmoil. Contrary to the conventional wisdom, Real Economy concludes that it is nevertheless possible that the EU and the euro area will emerge from both the bloc’s existential crisis and the euro area fiscal crisis even stronger. Nine EU states could still adopt the euro. Croatia, for example, is slated to eventually adopt the currency and Boris Vujcic, the governor of Croatia’s national bank, insists that the euro is worth the risk because it will promote trade and investment by eliminating currency risk. Croatia, however, does not yet meet all of the convergence criteria to qualify for membership in the euro area. Moreover, divergence remains a problem among existing euro area Member States. While acknowledging the challenges, Pierre Moscovici, the European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs remains optimistic. “I tell the pro-Europeans ‘Don’t be so shy, don’t be ashamed of being European. Be proud of it, but not only proud of what you have done but also proud of what you can do.’"