Latvia Will Have the Euro

That's right. Latvia, a former Soviet republic, has joined those other European Union (EU) members to use the Euro as it's official currency. Thus, it becomes the 18th nation to adopt the Euro as it's currency on January 1st.

The European Finance Ministers approved Latvia as the newest member of the EU to join those nations using the Euro this past Tuesday, July 9th.

Now, this actually happened yesterday, and was making news then. It occurs at a time of obvious difficulty and uncertainty for the European Union. With nations like Greece and Spain experiencing very serious difficulties, and with other nations, like Italy and Portugal and Ireland, all coming close to having similarly serious economic difficulties, perhaps it is surprising that anyone would willingly join those nations using the Euros. Given that the emphasis on extreme austerity measures by the bigger European nations, especially Germany, have proven controversial and divisive, Europe has not seen this kind of internal turmoil in a long, long time.

So, it is a bit curious timing that Latvia join now.

Austerity took it's toll in Latvia, as well. That's a part of the reason why some in Latvia stand opposed to scrapping their own currency in favor of the Euro.

Latvia's actions perhaps serve as an endorsement to the Euro, perhaps a confidence booster for the EU. It is a small nation, and so he overall global impact of this move is not likely to shake things up tremendously.

That Latvia is such a small nation is part of the reason that they joined. It is a small nation, and has sustained it's own currency since 1992, after gaining independence from the former Soviet Union. Many Latvians find this a source of pride, and thus, were opposed to Latvia adopting the Euro as it's currency. That, mixed with those difficulties and uncertainties already stated, have made this a controversial issue inside the tiny nation by the Baltic.

Part of the rationale behind it was that it would bind Latvia closer to the Western European nations with stronger economies. Latvian leaders believed that replacing their present currency, the lats, with the Euro, would be beneficial overall to their nation, despite some other expressing doubts.

It should be interesting to see how things turn out, one way or another.

A link to the article that I used in completing this blog entry can be found below, "Latvia plans to join euro zone, saying currency is attractive despite Europe’s financial crisis" by Michael Birnbaum of the Washington Post, July 9, 2013:


http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-07-09/world/40464344_1_euro-zone-prime-minister-valdis-dombrovskis-currency


Here is another interesting article, this one from the German publication "Can Latvia be a role model of reform in Europe?" by Zoran Arbutina of Deutsche Welle. This asks very different questions and, as the title implies, wonders whether Latvia's entry into the membership of nations using the Euro could actually serve as a model for Europe:

http://www.dw.de/can-latvia-be-a-role-model-for-reform-in-europe/a-16941073?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf