The European Commission confirmed that on 5 March, Latvia formally asked the Commission to deliver an extraordinary convergence report with the aim of joining the euro from 1st January 2014. The report will assess if the country has achieved the five convergence criteria as defined in the Maastricht Treaty for joining the euro.

Latvia is willing to join the euro from 2014. Therefore, the European Commission confirmed that this country asked to the Commission to deliver an extraordinary convergence report. The report will assess if the country has achieved the five convergence criteria as defined in the Maastricht Treaty for joining the euro. These five criteria consist of price stability, sound public finances, sustainable public finances, durability of convergence, and exchange rate stability.

If Latvia adopts the euro next year, Latvijas Banka, the central bank of Latvia, would become a member of the Eurosystem, the central banking system of the euro area. Also, the Governor of the Central Bank of Latvia would become member of the Governing Council of the ECB. Latvia would become a participating member of the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM), which is currently being established and is expected to be fully operational 12 months after the entry into force of the respective regulation. However, Latvia might decide to join the SSM right from the beginning. The country can also become a full member of the Eurogroup of eurozone Finance Ministers once it has adopted the euro. Finally, Latvia would also have the right to design Latvia-specific euro coins for circulation throughout the Eurozone.

332 million people use the euro in 17 eurozone countries: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain. According to the Commission, benefits of the euro are diverse and are felt on different scales, from individuals and businesses to whole economies, such as stable prices.