States aim to join euro

CROATIA and Bulgaria have taken a step toward joining the euro amid wider debate on how to strengthen the currency.

Finance ministers of the 19 current euro nations and European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde agreed to admit the countries to a mechanism seen as the waiting room for the euro.

Bulgaria, which joined the EU in 2007, has pegged its currency to the euro while the central bank of Croatia, an EU member since 2013, prevents excessive swings against the euro.