Berlaymontgebouw
datum 5 december 2014
organisatie Europese Commissie (EC) i

Thursday 1 January 2015: Lithuania becomes the 19th Member State to adopt the euro

The news:

Lithuania will adopt the euro on 1 January 2015, which is a major achievement for Lithuania and for the euro area as a whole. From the first minute of the New Year, Lithuanians will start withdrawing euro cash and paying for their purchases in euro. This has been made possible thanks to thorough preparations ahead of the changeover. Following the euro adoption in Lithuania, 19 EU Member States and 337 million Europeans will share the same currency.

The background:

In its 2014 Convergence Report released on 4 June, the Commission concluded that Lithuania meets the criteria for adopting the euro (for details of the assessment please see IP/14/627). On 23 July, the EU Finance Ministers took the formal decision opening the way for Lithuania’s adoption of the euro.

Thereafter, Lithuania started preparing the changeover to the euro by implementing its national changeover plan, providing all the details for the organisation of the introduction of the euro and the withdrawal of the litas. This sets, for instance, the timetable for supplies of euro cash to commercial banks and to retailers, the rules for cash exchanges for citizens to be applied before and after its "day one" of the euro, the strategy for adapting bank accounts, electronic payments systems and ATMs to the euro etc.

The preparations for the changeover have been complemented by a comprehensive communication campaign of the Lithuanian authorities. The European Commission and the European Central Bank have contributed to these efforts.

The event:

1 January 2015: Lithuania adopts the euro. More information on media events will follow.

The sources:

The euro explained: http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/euro/index_en.htm

Official website of the Lithuanian government on the adoption of the euro: http://euras.lt/en/

The contacts:

Annika Breidthardt, +32 229 56153, annika.breidthardt@ec.europa.eu

Annikky Lamp, +32 460 756 151, annikky.lamp@ec.europa


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Europese Commissie (EC)

Deze instelling van de Europese Unie kan worden beschouwd als het 'dagelijks bestuur' van de EU. De leden van de Europese Commissie worden 'Eurocommissarissen i' genoemd. Elke Eurocommissaris is verantwoordelijk voor één of meerdere beleidsgebieden. Momenteel zijn er 26 Eurocommissarissen. In principe is er voor iedere lidstaat één. Samen vormen zij het college van Eurocommissarissen. De Eurocommissarissen moeten het belang van de Europese Unie als geheel behartigen, niet dat van hun eigen land.

De Europese Commissie mag als enige EU-instelling wetsvoorstellen indienen; zij heeft het zogenaamde recht van initatief. Daarnaast controleert de Commissie of de Europese wetgeving juist wordt toegepast in de lidstaten, onderhandelt zij in internationale organisaties als de Wereldhandelsorganisatie (WTO) i over de handel van de Unie met het 'buitenland' en is zij verantwoordelijk voor het beheer van de Europese begroting van ongeveer 140 miljard euro per jaar.

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