Even before attaining EU membership, all candidate countries' governments had to start adopting measures aimed at meeting the Maastricht criteria within several years, because the new members had committed themselves in their accession treaties to adopting the euro. The most important measures required cutting budget deficits, often at the cost of lowering public expenditures.
即使是在成为欧盟成员国之前，所有的候选国家政府必须在几年内开始接受马斯特里赫特标准。因为新的成员国已经在它们的加入条约中同意使用欧元。最重要的标准就是降低预算赤字，而这通常是以减少公共开支为代价。