Latvia
Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...
replaced its previous currency, the
lats, with the
euro
The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...
on 1 January 2014,
after a
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
(EU) assessment in June 2013 asserted that the country had met all
convergence criteria
The euro convergence criteria (also known as the Maastricht criteria) are the criteria which European Union member states are required to meet to enter the third stage of the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union, Economic and Monet ...
necessary for euro adoption.
The adoption process began 1 May 2004, when Latvia joined the European Union, entering the EU's
Economic and Monetary Union
An economic and monetary union (EMU) is a type of trade bloc that features a combination of a common market, customs union, and monetary union. Established via a trade pact, an EMU constitutes the sixth of seven stages in the process of economic ...
. At the start of 2005, the lats was pegged to the euro at Ls 0.702804 = €1, and Latvia joined the
European Exchange Rate Mechanism
The European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM II) is a system introduced by the European Economic Community on 1 January 1999 alongside the introduction of a single currency, the euro (replacing ERM 1 and the euro's predecessor, the ECU) as p ...
(ERM ll), four months later on 2 May 2005.
History
Latvia's
Treaty of Accession to the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
(EU) obliged it to eventually
adopt the euro. Latvia had originally planned to adopt the euro on 1 January 2008, but for various reasons this was subsequently delayed several times. After being elected in 2011,
Latvian President
The president of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Valsts prezidents ) is head of state and commander-in-chief of the National Armed Forces of the Republic of Latvia.
The term of office is four years. Before 1999, it was three years. The president may be e ...
Andris Bērziņš announced the official goal was for Latvia to join the eurozone in 2014, saying "personally I'm very optimistic we'll join the euro on 1 January 2014. It's our goal and we are working hard to implement this process." In September 2012,
Latvian Prime Minister
The prime minister of Latvia ( lv, ministru prezidents) is the most powerful member of the Government of Latvia, who presides over the Latvian Cabinet of Ministers. The officeholder is nominated by the president of Latvia, but must be able to obta ...
Valdis Dombrovskis
Valdis Dombrovskis (born 5 August 1971) is a Latvian politician serving as Executive Vice President of the European Commission for An Economy that Works for People since 2019 and European Commissioner for Trade since 2020. He previously served ...
reiterated that "Latvia is on track for 2014 and permission to join would be sought in 2013."
Convergence
Before Latvia could adopt the euro, it had to meet five
convergence criteria
The euro convergence criteria (also known as the Maastricht criteria) are the criteria which European Union member states are required to meet to enter the third stage of the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union, Economic and Monet ...
set by the EU. An assessment by the
European Central Bank
The European Central Bank (ECB) is the prime component of the monetary Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union. It is one of the world's Big Four (banking)#Intern ...
(ECB) in April 2012 found that Latvia met three of the five criteria. The Latvian Finance Minister announced in December 2012 that since convergence checks were only conducted biennially, an extraordinary report would be requested in February 2013, but in January 2013 Prime Minister Dombrovskis stated that for "technical reasons" the request had been delayed until March. However, he was confident that Latvia was "fulfilling the Maastricht euro adoption criteria with a considerable reserve, therefore I don't see any basis on which this convergence report would be negative."
The Latvian government formally applied for a convergence check at the beginning of March,
and the resulting convergence report, published on 5 June 2013 by the
European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...
, concluded that "the Commission considers that Latvia fulfils the conditions for the adoption of the euro." The ECB simultaneously published a report which noted that "Latvia is within the reference values of the convergence criteria". Latvia's adoption of the euro, a legal obligation now that the convergence criteria have been met, was given final approval by the
Economic and Financial Affairs Council
The Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) is one of the oldest configurations of the Council of the European Union and is composed of the economics and finance ministers of the 27 European Union member states, as well as Budget Minist ...
on 9 July, and the lats was replaced with the
euro
The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...
on 1 January 2014.
[ The Euro switchover ceremony took place at a site where Latvia's crisis began – the former headquarters of the collapsed ]Parex bank
Parex Bank was a Latvian bank founded in 1992 by Valērijs Kargins and as a privately owned full-service banking company in Riga, Latvia that was very dominant in currency exchange in the 1990s. It had local and international clients in both t ...
, now headquarters of state-owned Citatele bank, which emerged from Parex's ruins.
Status
Failed calls for a referendum
Some members of Latvia's parliament, the Saeima
The Saeima () is the parliament of the Latvia, Republic of Latvia. It is a unicameral parliament consisting of 100 members who are elected by proportional representation, with seats allocated to political parties which gain at least 5% of the po ...
, originally pushed for a referendum on euro adoption, but Latvian Prime Minister
The prime minister of Latvia ( lv, ministru prezidents) is the most powerful member of the Government of Latvia, who presides over the Latvian Cabinet of Ministers. The officeholder is nominated by the president of Latvia, but must be able to obta ...
Valdis Dombrovskis
Valdis Dombrovskis (born 5 August 1971) is a Latvian politician serving as Executive Vice President of the European Commission for An Economy that Works for People since 2019 and European Commissioner for Trade since 2020. He previously served ...
argued that a referendum is unnecessary because Latvians already voted in favour of their EU accession treaty in 2003, which binds them to adopt the euro as soon as the country is found to comply with all the convergence criteria
The euro convergence criteria (also known as the Maastricht criteria) are the criteria which European Union member states are required to meet to enter the third stage of the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union, Economic and Monet ...
. He argued that, given the legal obligation, a referendum could only serve to delay or prevent euro adoption. According to Latvian law, if more than 1/3 of all members of parliament object to a bill, and propose an alternative bill within two weeks of the original bill being passed by parliament, a referendum can be called to allow the public to decide between the two bills. On 31 January 2013, the Latvian parliament passed its "euro adoption bill". Four days later, the biggest opposition party, Harmony Center
;russian: Достойная жизнь для каждого)
, website saskanascentrs.lv
Harmony Centre ( lv, Saskaņas Centrs, SC; russian: Центр Cогласия, ЦC) was a social-democratic political alliance in Latvia. It original ...
, stated that it would not support the alternative "referendum bill", which was tabled by the other opposition party, Union of Greens and Farmers
The Union of Greens and Farmers ( lv, Zaļo un Zemnieku savienība, ZZS) is an agrarian political alliance in Latvia. It is made up of the Latvian Farmers' Union, Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party, and For Latvia and Ventspils.
It is pos ...
. Shortly after this, on 9 February, the referendum proposal had only gathered the support of 4 out of the Saeima's 100 members. These MPs stated that they would turn to the last remaining legal option to force a referendum: gathering a petition of at least 30,000 electoral signatories. Latvia officially requested an extraordinary convergence report to assess their readiness for euro adoption on 4 March 2013. Latvia's Central Election Commission rejected the proposed referendum on 18 March, as the proposed bill was considered not to comply with the Latvian constitution or Latvia's international obligations.
Roadmap for euro adoption
A draft law outlining the euro switchover process was presented by the government's cabinet on 6 November 2012. It specified that:
* ATMs would stop distributing Lats from 1 January 2014.
* Both Lats and Euros would be in circulation for two weeks.
* Post offices would offer free exchange for a month (this was later extended to three months).
* All shops would be required to have dual price displays for three months before and until six months after the adoption.
The law was passed on 31 January 2013.
Linguistic issues
The Latvian Parliament adopted on 26 July 2005 "Regulation Nr.564", outlining that the official Latvian name of the euro currency would be "eiro". In December 2007 the regulation was amended, so that the name in all legal matters would be "euro" and in all non-legal matters "eiro". The ECB was asked to approve this special naming convention, but declined on 13 November 2012 and asked Latvia to repeal either the entire regulation or at least the paragraph that granted the euro currency a special Latvian name. On 4 March 2013, the Latvian Ministry of Justice clarified that while the official name of the currency for all financial and legal documents shall be "euro", the public will continue to be able to use the Latvian name "eiro", furthermore it is required to write "euro" in italics indicating the word is in a foreign language.
Latvian euro design
Latvian euro coins feature three separate designs on the national side, which were publicised in July 2006 on the home page of the National Bank of Latvia
The Bank of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Banka,) is the central bank of Latvia. It is among the nation's key public institutions and carries out economic functions as prescribed by law. It was established in 1922.
The principal objective of the Bank of ...
. The designs featured were the Latvian maiden, which was featured on the 5 lats coin prior to World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, on the 1 and 2 euro coins, the greater coat of arms of Latvia
Coat of arms of Republic of Latvia was officially adopted by the Constitutional Assembly of Latvia on 15 June 1921, and was in official use from 19 August 1921. It was created using new national symbols and elements of coats of arms of Polish and S ...
on the 10, 20 and 50-cent coins, and the lesser Coat of arms of Latvia on the 1, 2 and 5-cent coins. Originally, it was planned that the Freedom Monument
The Freedom Monument ( lv, Brīvības piemineklis, ) is located in Riga, Latvia, honouring soldiers killed during the Latvian War of Independence (1918–1920). It is considered an important symbol of the freedom, independence, and sovereignty ...
would be featured on the 2 euro coin, but the original design did not meet the regulations of the ECB since it reached out into the ring of the coin and changed one of the stars. Latvia decided that a changed design of the monument would not be as recognisable and decided to use the Latvian maiden, used on the 1 euro coin, on the 2 euro coin as well.
For the design of images on the common side and a detailed description of the coins, see euro coins
There are eight euro coin denominations, ranging from one cent to two euros (the euro is divided into a hundred cents). The coins first came into use in 2002. They have a common reverse, portraying a map of Europe, but each country in the eurozone ...
.
A tender for minting the Latvian euro coins began on 20 September 2012. On 10 December 2012, it was announced that Latvia will utilise the Baden-Württemberg Mint. The coins were minted in Stuttgart
Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...
except the 1 cent, 10 cent and 1 euro coins, which were minted in Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...
. The production of Latvian euros began in July 2013.
Latvian Historical Regions series
Circulating mintage quantities
Mints
2014: Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
(Stuttgart): 2 cent, 5 cent, 20 cent, 50 cent, 2 euro.
2014: Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
(Karlsruhe): 1 cent, 10 cent, 1 euro.
2015-2018: Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
(Stuttgart)
Notes
References
External links
European Central Bank – Latvia
Eiro.lv – the euro changeover site
(Ministry of Finance of Latvia)
Bank of Latvia
*
EU and euro
BaltCoin.lv - International purchase of latvian Euro coins
{{Euro topics
Euro coins by issuing country
2014 in Latvia
Euro coins
There are eight euro coin denominations, ranging from one cent to two euros (the euro is divided into a hundred cents). The coins first came into use in 2002. They have a common reverse, portraying a map of Europe, but each country in the eurozone ...
Euro
The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...