BRUSSELS (AFP) - The European Union's finance ministers on Tuesday (July 12) gave Croatia the final greenlight to adopt the euro single currency on Jan 1, 2023.

"I would like to congratulate my counterpart, Zdravko Maric, and the whole of Croatia for becoming the 20th country to join the euro area," said Mr Zbynek Stanjura, the finance minister of the Czech Republic, which holds the EU's rotating presidency.

The Balkan country's planned change from its currency, the kuna, to the euro will come less than a decade after it joined the European Union.