Brussels, 27/04/2006 (Agence Europe) - The EP's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs held a first debate on Tuesday on enlargement of the euro zone. The Commission and the European Central Bank (ECB) will give their stance on this on 16 May when assessing respect of convergence criteria by Slovenia and Lithuania. Discussion covered the draft report by Werner La ngen (EPP-ED, Germany), which analyses the practical preparations of the various countries aspiring to single currency (for the initial Commission report, see EUROPE 9062), but focused on the candidature by Vilnius. Mr Langen, whose report generally calls for caution and for strict compliance with Maastricht criteria for any new accession to the euro zone, gave his support to the positions defended by Commissioner Almunia, although he did say the “the decision is essentially a political one”. Although inflation figures do not seem to allow Lithuania to join the euro zone on 1 January 2007, Margarita Starkeviciute (ALDE, Lithuania) boasted of the “enormous effort” made by her country in preparing for single currency. Slamming the lack of method for calculating indicators and defining sustainability for meeting Maastricht criteria, she said these failings should no longer exist and called for “far greater precision” in the future. Mr Langen admitted that there were questions being raised when it comes to calculation. Dariusz Rosati (PES, Poland), noted that the rapporteur has a “very firm attitude” whereas, he commented, the euro zone candidates are facing a dilemma as they must choose between slowing down growth in the hope of joining the euro zone or taking advantage of economic catching-up with the risk of not being able to meet EMU criteria. Of course, it is necessary to comply with Maastricht criteria, but the Langen report goes further than the provisions of the treaty and adds additional criteria such as real convergence criteria, Mr Rosati complained before Mr Langen reminded him that real economic convergence criteria do in fact appear in the treaties. German Liberal Wolf Klinz said Lithuania has a “more than satisfactory result” when it comes to inflation and, on the basis of economic criteria, not only Slovenia but also Lithuania “qualify”. “This is a political debate and time must be taken to hold an indepth discussion”, Dutch Socialist Ieke Van den Burg stressed.