In an address by Republic of Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos to a large gathering of bank employees, at a meeting on Saturday to honour their trade unionists, he said, “We are just months away from achieving our strategic goal to join the Eurozone and adopt the Euro as our currency in 2008. The role of ETYK (bank employees’ trade union) will be decisive in this respect” He noted that since Cyprus’ accession to the European Union in May 2004, international competition and globalization have inevitably affected the banking sector, and “a new era has dawned” in the banking industry. The role of ETYK will be a decisive factor in the country's next step of joining the Euro.