Luxembourg, 20/06/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 20 June, the Ecofin Council gave the formal go-ahead to Lithuania's joining the eurozone on 1 January 2015.
The head of the Eurogroup, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, said after a meeting of eurozone finance ministers on Thursday (see EUROPE 11102 and 11094): “This is a well-deserved achievement for Lithuania, after an impressive convergence process and remarkable re-emergence from the financial crisis”. Lithuanian Finance Minister Rimantas Sadzius, who will become an observer at Eurogroup in September, told the other ministers that his country would pursue a policy of stable public finances. Noting the historic importance of the Ecofin Council decision for his country, Sadzius admitted on Friday that this was simply the first stage in a long path. He said Lithuania, the third Baltic state to join the single currency, would try to be a responsible member of the eurozone.
Following the Ecofin Council's decision, it will be for the European summit to enshrine the move. In a fortnight's time, the European Commission will decide on the litas-euro exchange rate and Vilnius will enter discussions to join the European stability mechanism (ESM), the eurozone's permanent bailout fund.
ECB. Lithuania's membership of the euro will change the decision-making process at the European Central Bank. Only fifteen voters will be allowed in addition to the members of the ECB's Executive Board. Two groups of countries will be set up: - one group will have four votes and will comprise the five biggest eurozone nations (Germany, France, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands); and one group will have 11 votes and comprise all the remaining countries. This means that, for the big countries, a central bank will lose its vote once every five meetings of the ECB Governing Council. The head of the ECB, Mario Draghi, said he was “confident” that each bank would be able to assert its views (Germany is concerned about the Bundesbank losing influence). (MB)