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歐盟委員會確認，東歐波羅的海沿岸國家拉脫維亞已經滿足了加入歐元區所需達到的各項條件，已被批準自2014年1月1日起成為歐元區第18個成員國。加入歐元區的五項條件包括通脹率低、長期利率低、匯率穩定、公共債務低，及赤字低。拉脫維亞一直努力加強與西歐的聯系，減少對俄羅斯的依賴。歐盟經濟及貨幣事務專員瑞恩表示，拉脫維亞為加入歐元區所做的努力表現了其對歐元的信心，“那些預言歐元區會解體的人都錯了”。

不過，歐洲央行同時警告說，拉脫維亞銀行體系內的大量外國存款將成為重大金融穩定風險，其經濟結構也存在一些長期不可持續的問題。拉脫維亞加入歐元區還須得到歐洲理事會和歐洲議會的批準。目前，歐委會已經正式提請歐洲理事會近期批準拉脫維亞從2014年1月1日起啟用歐元。歐洲議會和歐洲理事會有望在7月正式批準這一提議。

歐元區目前的17個成員國包括：奧地利、比利時 、芬蘭 、法國 、德國 、愛爾蘭、意大利、盧森堡、荷蘭 、葡萄牙 、西班牙 、希臘 、斯洛文尼亞、塞浦路斯、馬耳他 、斯洛伐克、愛沙尼亞。

Latvia will become the 18th country to use the euro after being approved for membership by the European Commission.

Latvia will become the 18th country to use the euro after being approved for membership by the European Commission.

In a report, the Commission confirmed that the Baltic state had met the criteria for joining the single currency.

Latvia is keen to strengthen ties with western Europe and reduce its dependency on Russia.

Officials said the eurozone had defied those who predicted it would collapse under the sovereign debt crisis.

It has had a financial crisis of its own at a time when it had a policy of fixing its exchange rate against the Euro. It chose to stick with that policy. Latvia did not seek to regain lost competitiveness by devaluing the currency, which many countries have done in past financial crises.

Instead, it followed the path of troubled countries such as Greece and Ireland already using the Euro and went for what's called "internal devaluation", restoring competitiveness through austerity.

Although not a Eurozone member, Latvia in effect accepted the constraints that membership would have imposed. It has been very painful.

Economic activity is recovering but it is even now 12% below its pre-crisis peak. Unemployment is also moving in the right direction but it remains high at 12.4%, despite significant emigration.

The country will start using the currency at the beginning of 2014 after meeting the criteria for membership, including low inflation and long-term interest rates, as well as low public debt.

EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said Latvia's desire to adopt the euro was a sign of confidence in the single currency.

"Those who predicted a disintegration of the euro...were simply wrong," Rehn told a news conference.

The BBC Brussels correspondent, Matthew Price, said that unlike some established members of the zone, Latvia was well within the economic limits set by Brussels for joining.

"In much of Eastern Europe there's widespread enthusiasm - certainly among policy makers - for joining the single currency," he noted.

"However, polls suggest that many in the country are worried the switch could drive prices higher."

Anti-euro parties won more than half of the vote in elections in the capital, Riga, last weekend.

Latvia underwent one of Europe's toughest austerity programmes after the 2008-2009 financial crisis knocked a fifth off its GDP.

It received a 7.5bn euro bailout in 2008, but it has now repaid the loans.

The membership still has to be approved by EU leaders and the European Parliament, but that is seen as a formality.

EU finance ministers are expected to sign off the accession in July.

The European Central Bank (ECB) also gave its blessing to Latvia on Wednesday ahead of the Commission's announcement, but warned high foreign deposits in its banks were a risk to financial stability.

"The reliance by a significant part of the banking sector on non-resident deposits as a source of funding, while not a recent phenomenon, is again on the rise and represents an important risk to financial stability," the ECB said.

Euro entry criteria:

Low inflation

Low long-term interest rates

A stable exchange rate

Low public debt

Low public deficits

(Source: BBC News)

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（中國日報網英語點津 Helen）