Brussels, 28/06/2004 (Agence Europe) - Lithuania, Estonia and Slovenia joined the European exchange rate mechanism (ERM II) on Sunday and decided to link their currencies to the euro. The European Central Bank defined the central rate for the national currencies relative to the euro, around which they can fluctuate by plus or minus 15%. The parity rate for the Estonian crown is 15.6466 EEK to one euro, the Lithuanian litas is 3.45280 LTL to one euro and the Slovene tolar is 239.640 SIT to one euro.
Commissioner Joaquin Almunia, responsible for economic and monetary affairs, welcomed the decision by the three countries to join ERM II. His spokesperson, Gerassimos Thomas, recalled however that before joining the euro, it is necessary to participated in the ERM II for at least two years and to conform to the convergence criteria. He said that “following this decision, no date has been fixed for the moment to adopt the common currency” by the three member states.
In 2003, these three countries, like Latvia, had public deficits below the threshold of 3% of GDP. But only Slovenia has clearly indicated its aim to adopt the euro from the beginning of 2007 in its convergence programme, the two other member states having said they would do so “when possible”.