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Thursday 1 January 2015: Lithuania becomes the 19^th Member State to adopt the euro

The news:

Lithuania will adopt the euro on 1 January 2015, which is a major achievement for Lithuania and for the euro area as a whole. From the first minute of the New Year, Lithuanians will start withdrawing euro cash and paying for their purchases in euro. This has been made possible thanks to thorough preparations ahead of the changeover. Following the euro adoption in Lithuania, 19 EU Member States and 337 million Europeans will share the same currency.

The background:

In its 2014 Convergence Report released on 4 June, the Commission concluded that Lithuania meets the criteria for adopting the euro (for details of the assessment please see IP/14/627). On 23 July, the EU Finance Ministers took the formal decision opening the way for Lithuania’s adoption of the euro.

Thereafter, Lithuania started preparing the changeover to the euro by implementing its national changeover plan, providing all the details for the organisation of the introduction of the euro and the withdrawal of the litas. This sets, for instance, the timetable for supplies of euro cash to commercial banks and to retailers, the rules for cash exchanges for citizens to be applied before and after its "day one" of the euro, the strategy for adapting bank accounts, electronic payments systems and ATMs to the euro etc.

The preparations for the changeover have been complemented by a comprehensive communication campaign of the Lithuanian authorities. The European Commission and the European Central Bank have contributed to these efforts.

The event:

1 January 2015: Lithuania adopts the euro. More information on media events will follow.

The sources:

The euro explained: http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/euro/index_en.htm

Official website of the Lithuanian government on the adoption of the euro: http://euras.lt/en/

The contacts:

Annika Breidthardt, +32 229 56153, annika.breidthardt@ec.europa.eu

Annikky Lamp, +32 460 756 151, annikky.lamp@ec.europa

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The European Commission is the sole EU body capable of proposing new legislation. The Commission also performs an oversight function, monitoring whether European legislation is properly implemented in the member states. In the event of non-compliance, the Commission can coerce a member state to comply by starting a legal procedure at the European Court of Justice.