of ERM II membership on 1 January 2019. In 2015, however, Isărescu again argued for a delay in the changeover to the euro. Ahead of ERM II entry, Romania would need to conduct monetary adjustments by finalizing the process to bring minimum reserve requirement ratios in line with Eurozone levels. Isărescu predicted the process would take twelve to eighteen months; Romania needed to complete major economic policy adjustments by: removing the sources of repressed inflation (i.e., completion of energy market deregulation); removing sources of quasi-fiscal deficits (by restructuring loss-making state-owned enterprises); removing other sources of future budgetary pressures (i.e., unavoidable expenditures to modernise road infrastructure). In June 2015, Romania's Prime Minister Victor Ponta said he was open to the idea of holding a referendum on euro adoption. However, the decisive trio, the President, BNR Governor and Finance Minister did not consider this option. The target for "real convergence" ahead of euro adoption is for Romania's GDP per capita, in terms of purchasing power, to be above 60% of the average figure for the EU. Forecasts predicted this could reach 65% in 2018 and 71% in 2020, after having risen from 29% in 2002 to 54% in 2014. The Romanian government also expressed commitment to join all pillars of the Banking Union as soon as possible. However, in September 2015 Isărescu said that the 2019 target was no longer realistic. The Romanian foreign minister, Teodor Meleșcanu, declared on 28 August 2017 that as the country "meet(s) all formal requirements", Romania "could join the currency union even tomorrow". However, he thought Romania "will adopt the euro in five years, in 2022". In March 2018, members of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) voted at an extraordinary congress to back a 2024 target date to adopt the euro currency. In February 2021, the Romanian Prime Minister, Florin Cîțu, announced that the date for Romanian adoption of the euro would be delayed again to 2027 or 2028. Then, in December 2021, , the first deputy governor of the BNR, said that the date would be once again delayed to 2029. Current perspectives There is no pressure on Romania to adhere to ERM in a certain year, followed by the adoption of the euro two years later. The EU Member States can use the derogation clause to prevent Romania from entering into ERM, and hold on to their monetary policies as a buffer against external shocks.