Brussels, 23/07/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 23 July, the EU Council of Ministers approved Lithuania's accession to the eurozone on 1 January 2015 (see EUROPE 11110 and 11094).
The member states also adopted regulations setting the official litas/euro conversion rate: 3.45280 Lithuanian litas to the euro, which corresponds to the current central rate of the litas in the EU's exchange rate mechanism.
Lithuanian Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius said: “Adoption of the euro has been a strategic step for Lithuania, well thought-out economically and politically, to foster national economic growth”. Sandro Gozi, Italian Secretary of State for European Affairs, said of Lithuania becoming the nineteenth member of the eurozone: “It's a demonstration of the continuing attractiveness of the single currency project”.
A European Commission monitoring report published the same day says that preparations are progressing well but “measures designed to avoid abusive practices by retailers must be stepped up”. The Commission states: “It is important to achieve the highest possible subscription rate to the Memorandum on Good Business Practice, in which participants commit not to use the euro introduction as a pretext for unjustified price rises. Corrective action should be taken within at most 48 hours against businesses that fail to comply with the requirements for price display and conversion (e.g. rounding rules) or that fail to implement the Memorandum on Good Business Practice properly”. This is essential to ensure that the introduction of the euro is not abused by speculators and Lithuanians' spending power is not undermined.
The Commission says: “The amount of litas cash in circulation could be further reduced before '€-day' on 1 January 2015. Information campaigns should focus on practical aspects of the euro changeover to ensure that dual price displays are set up correctly and price settings are closely monitored during the changeover period, to protect consumers. In this context, the Lithuanian authorities are invited to share the results of their opinion polls regularly with the Commission”. (MB)