President Dalia Grybauskaitė, attending the European Council meeting, said that it was a very significant recognition of Lithuania which demonstrates that our country is valued, considered to be financially credible and developed. As member of the euro area, Lithuania will be an equal partner in shaping and adopting political decisions on EU monetary policy.
"The euro will not only bring direct benefit to the people of Lithuania and its business. It will help to maintain a healthy and sound public finance policy as well as prevent financial populism," the President underlined.
According to the President, the adoption of the euro at the start of next year will eliminate currency exchange fees, drive down borrowing costs and make Lithuania more attractive to investors. If Lithuania had introduced the euro back in 2007, the President said, it would have avoided such a harsh financial crisis and would have saved a total of more than 8 billion litas - which could have been used to reduce social exclusion.
