The occasion, the definitive approval of the EU General Affairs Council on Lithuania's entry into the Eurozone from 2015 January XNUMX, was inviting; and Jyrki Katainen, the new European commissioner for economic and monetary affairs, seized on it. Thus, in complimenting the small Baltic country on the progress achieved thanks to reforms and careful management of budgetary policies, he sent a clear message to the governments of the member states who are urging Europe to loosen the grip of financial rigor and engage more in the direction of economic growth.
“Lithuania – said Katainen, who resigned as Finnish prime minister precisely with the precise aim of dedicating himself to Europe in order to continue along the path of austerity followed with determination by his predecessor and compatriot Olli Rehn – will enter the Eurozone from position of strength thanks to a growth in its gross domestic product of more than 3% per year from 2011 to today (and a deficit limited to 2% per year - ed), with the forecast of further economic expansion at the same rate”.
The message that the new commissioner addresses with these words to all EU member states is clear: reforms and financial rigour, he intends to say, are the main road and will continue to be so if we want to complete the recovery of public budgets and encourage the relaunch of the 'economy. A line, substantially indicated by Katainen, which at least in part has been confirmed by the results achieved by Lithuania in its race towards the Eurozone and which, like it or not, does not differ from the one followed by his predecessor Olli Rehn.
But, if the data on Lithuania cited by Katainen offer objective support to the austerity strategy he is pursuing, some might find it difficult to underestimate others which could cast doubts on the effectiveness, everywhere and in any case, of that strategy. Like for example, again with reference to the Baltic country, a permanently low level of per capita GDP or a bureaucracy considered slow and inefficient.
Now, apart from the reasons given by the new commissioner in support of the economic and financial policy choices which have led Lithuania to reach the parameters required to be able to join the euro club, one can wonder whether there have been other reasons which have led this country to accept important sacrifices in order to access the single currency.
In summary, one could answer that there were essentially two. First of all, the need to align with Estonia's entry into the euro in 2011 and Latvia at the beginning of this year, to prevent the natural strengthening of trade relations between these two countries and the rest of the European Union from leaving out of action Vilnius. And also the fear that Lithuania (whose energy supply depends totally on Russian sources) could remain excluded from the flow of foreign investments to which the entire Baltic area aspires in order to free itself at least somewhat from the inevitable geopolitical dependence on the two large neighbours, Russia and Poland.
Finally, how much does Lithuania's imminent adoption of the single currency benefit the eurozone “family”? Our Undersecretary for European Affairs Sandro Gozi, who chaired that General Affairs Council, responds to this question by stating that the event "is of great importance for the entire Eurozone as it shows that the single currency confirms all its force of attraction" . An opinion shared by the Lithuanian Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius, according to whom "a more rapid integration of the Eurozone is also a greater guarantee of security for all".
