The President of the European People's Party (EPP), Joseph Daul, today congratulated Lithuania on joining the Eurozone: "This is excellent news for Lithuania, and this achievement will further deepen the country's integration in the European Union. It will also make Lithuania more competitive, more attractive for foreign investment, and will bring more and better jobs to Lithuanian citizens. Moreover, this is a positive step for the Baltic region as a whole, since Estonia and Latvia are also members of the Eurozone, and their economies are deeply interconnected. This increases the potential for the countries of the region to continue to work together to improve their shared economic prospects. The accession of Lithuania is also a positive development for the whole of the Eurozone, which will now consist of 19 member states, and this enlargement of the Eurozone with Lithuania shows that the euro remains an attractive currency. I am convinced Lithuania will contribute within this bloc in order to help address the current economic crisis in Europe. I would like to congratulate the current Lithuanian government, as well as the past government led by former Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius, on having kept Lithuania moving forward on the path of closer European integration, while working diligently to fulfil the criteria which enabled the country to formally join the Eurozone today. Without the economic reforms and the responsible crisis management of the Kubilius government, Lithuania would have not been able to join the Eurozone now."  


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For more information contact:

 

Alexandra Henman

Deputy Spokesperson

+32 471 90 76 84

alh@epp.eu

 

Angelos Athanasopoulos

National and Regional Press Director

+32 471 90 76 35

aa@epp.eu