Latvia to join eurozone

The European Commission has given Latvia the green light to join the European single currency, reports LETA. The country’s readiness to join the eurozone was discussed at a meeting of the Commission in Brussels. The European Central Bank has also published a positive convergence report for Latvia, confirming that the country has met all the criteria to introduce the euro.

In a special press conference on June 5, Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis (Unity) said that the positive convergence report should mean that the final decision on Latvia’s eurozone membership will be positive as well. “The ongoing procedure will take about a month, but taking into account the positive convergence report, we have enough reason to believe that the final decision will be a positive one as well,” Dombrovskis said.

He said that intensive work has been carried out the past month to gain support from eurozone members, including discussions with individual countries who had questions on some aspects in relation to Latvia joining the eurozone.
European Union finance ministers are expected to make a final decision on Latvia’s eurozone membership on July 9. If the decision is positive, Latvia will become the 18th member of the eurozone. Latvia’s goal is to introduce the euro on Jan. 1, 2014.