Malta will submit its formal request for accession to the eurozone in the first two weeks of March, reported The Times of Malta.

Sources close to the government  told the newspaper that the government instructed the Ministry of Finance to finalize preparations and submit its application to the European Commission and the European Central Bank after Cyprus presented its own application on Tuesday.

Malta’s target date to accede to the euro is 1st January 2008.

While Parliamentary Secretary Tonio Fenech confirmed Malta will be applying in March, he did not reveal a precise date.

Prior to its submission, Malta will have new statistics in hand outlining its progress where the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and inflation are concerned.  To qualify to join the eurozone, member states must fulfill the Maastricht convergence criteria applied to the existing euro area members, namely a high degree of price stability, sustainable government finances in terms of both public deficit and public debt levels, a stable exchange rate and convergence in long-term interest rates.

According to the sources, Malta wants to follow euro accession model adopted by Slovenia. This entailed submitting the application in March 2006 and being given the go ahead for adoption by July.

Amelia Torres, spokesman for Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joachim Almunia, said on Tuesday that for Cyprus, Brussels will be trying to emulate the process employed last year in the case of Slovenia. "We now expect that both the Commission and the European Central Bank will analyse the Cypriot application and issue their respective convergence reports by mid-May. These reports will then be discussed by the EU summit in June. The final decision, when the final convergence rate of the currency will also be established, will be taken by the finance ministers," she said.  

The schedule as explained by the Commission's spokesman indicates that the final decision will be taken at the first Economic and Financial Affairs Council (Ecofin) meeting under the Portuguese presidency, in July.