The eurozone took a key step towards enlargement in July. At the request of the Bulgarian and Croatian authorities, the lev and the kuna were included in the Exchange Rate Mechanism II, a key prerequisite before joining the euro. Additionally, the European Central Bank established close co-operation with both the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) and the Croatian National Bank (HNB) in banking supervision. Both countries are set to join the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) on October 1, when the