La Latvia wants to join the euro next year. An official request has arrived in Brussels. “This is a day that will go down in Latvian history,” Finance Minister Andris Vilks said at the ceremony where Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis and Central Bank head Ilmars Rimsevics signed the request.
The small Baltic state is one of the fastest growing economies in the entire European Union. The recovery is clear from the 2009 crisis, which forced the country to adopt an international rescue plan. Riga sees the euro as a safer bet in the long run than keeping the Lats, the current Latvian currency.
To join Euroland, Latvia must apply for an evaluation by the European Commission and the European Central Bank. The country claims to meet all five criteria needed to be accepted in the Eurozone (related to levels of debt, deficit, inflation, long-term interest rates and a stable commitment to the euro).
Neighboring Lithuania is also considering adopting the euro in 2015 or 2016. As for Poland, the idea of adopting the euro is still in the gestation stage, but President Bronislaw Komorowski said the big step it could come after the 2015 elections. The smallest of the Baltic states, Estonia, adopted the euro in 2011.
