PRAGUE, April 9 (Xinhua) -- The Czech Ministry of Finance announced on Wednesday that the government has accepted a joint recommendation from the ministry and the Czech National Bank not to set a date for adopting the euro for the time being.

"Thanks to the steps taken by the current government, we are fulfilling the Maastricht criteria in the area of public finances required for entry into the eurozone, which allows us to start a serious and real debate on the date of euro adoption," Finance Minister Zbynek Stanjura said in a statement.

"In the Czech Republic, a quarter of the population now supports the introduction of the euro, and unless support increases to at least 50 percent, abandoning a national currency with such a long tradition, in my opinion, does not make sense," Stanjura explained.

The Czech Republic met three of the five criteria for euro adoption last year, namely the size of the public deficit, the level of debt and the level of interest rates. However, it did not meet the inflation criterion or the obligation to join the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM II), according to the Czech News Agency.

The ERM II is a system that stabilizes exchange rates between EU member states' currencies and the euro within a set fluctuation band. Participation in ERM II is a mandatory preparatory step for euro adoption, requiring a minimum of two years before joining the eurozone.

The National Economic Council of the Government has advised that the Czech Republic should enter ERM II only once there is political consensus and a clear timeline for adopting the euro.

Upon joining the European Union in 2004, the Czech Republic committed to adopting the euro once it fulfills the necessary convergence criteria.