Latvia on course for the euro

This decision culminates an approval process that began on 5 June with the adoption of the 2013 Convergence Report, in which the Commission concluded that Latvia fulfils all the necessary conditions to join the euro.

The Council, meeting in its configuration of finance ministers (ECOFIN Council), also set the conversion rate at 0.702804 Latvian lat to one euro, which corresponds to the current central rate of the lat in the EU exchange mechanism.

>> ECOFIN Press: 323. 12074/13 Latvia to adopt euro on 1 January 2014

The procedure for a euro adoption by Latvia involved most of the European institutions - the European Commission, the European Parliament, the European Council, the ECB, the Eurogroup, and many committees preparing the procedure. Latvia is now set to change its lats to the euro on 1 January 2014 and to become the 18th member of the euro area to switch to the common European currency.

Information campaign on the euro for Latvia

On 10 June 2012 the Latvian Minister for Finance, Andris Vilks, and the European Commission Vice-President responsible for Economic and Monetary Affairs and the euro, Olli Rehn, signed a Partnership Agreement on euro changeover communication activities on the margins of the EU's Council of Economics and Finance Ministers. The Commission and the Latvian Government have agreed to coordinate their information and communication efforts in Latvia with a view to increasing public knowledge of Economic and Monetary Union and the euro, and to contributing to a smooth euro changeover in Latvia without prejudice to relevant future Council decisions.

Moreover, the agreement allows the Commission to support a series of communication activities laid down in the "Communication Strategy for the Euro Changeover in Latvia". The Commission has in the past entered into similar Partnership Agreements with other Member States planning to adopt the euro.

See the video on the signing of the Partnership Agreement here.

Euro festivities welcoming Latvia

In a ceremony in the Berlaymont building following the ECOFIN decision, Commissioner Rehn, the Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis, and other guests assembled to celebrate the enlargement of the euro area to include Latvia.