LITHUANIAN Finance Minister Rimantas Šadžius has confirmed Lithuania’s goal of entering the eurozone in 2015, even though he admitted that there may be delays. Lithuania will be the last of the three Baltic countries to adopt the European single currency, the TASR newswire wrote on July 4.
Support of adopting the euro among the general public is about 41 percent, while the economic and financial sector shows much bigger support. In general, as much as 54 percent of Lithuanians believe that the euro will bring a positive change, and 33 percent of Lithuanians expressed their conviction that the euro will result in a personal benefit.
Minister Šadžius ascribed the relationship of Lithuanians to the euro as quite peculiar. According to him, in such a small country with the historical national currency of the litas, it is not possible to obtain 100-percent support for entry into the eurozone.
Lithuania re-introduced the litas in June 1993 after the country gained independence. The litas was first introduced in 1922, and was used until 1941 when it was replaced by the Soviet ruble.
