Euro area members and year of entry

After Latvia joined the euro area at the beginning of this year, Lithuania should be the next EU country to adopt the single currency. Following consultation of the European Parliament, the Council is expected to decide in July on the European Commission’s proposal that Lithuania become the 19th member of the euro area on 1 January 2015. Some commentators suggest that this could be the last enlargement of the area for some time, since no other Member States (except for Denmark which has an “opt-out” from the single currency) are currently participating in the exchange rate mechanism, a necessary intermediate step prior to membership.