Adoption by Lithuania of the euro on 1 January 2015

The Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs adopted the report by Werner WANGEN (EPP, DE) on the proposal for a Council decision on the adoption by Lithuania of the euro on 1 January 2015.

It approved the Commission proposal and endorses the adoption of the euro by Lithuania on 1 January 2015.

Members recalled that according to the European Central Bank Convergence Report published on 4 June 2014, Lithuania meets all the convergence criteria. They welcomed the fact that:

• in the year ending in April 2014 Lithuania had a mean inflation rate of 0.6%, and therefore fulfils this convergence criterion;
• in the reference year 2013 Lithuania had a budget deficit of 2.1% and a government debt of 39.4% of Gross Domestic Product, and therefore fulfils this convergence criterion;
• there have been no tensions surrounding the litas-euro exchange rate during the two-year assessment period;
• during the reference period from May 2013 until April 2014 long-term interest rates in Lithuania averaged 3.6%;
• legislation in Lithuania is fully compatible with the compliance duty under Article 131 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, in particular with the principle of central bank independence.