globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com / By Mike “Mish” Shedlock / December 20, 2012 12:51 PM
The Financial Times reports Newest EU members go cooler on euro.
The enthusiasm for the euro is cooling among the EU’s newest members in eastern Europe, as Latvia’s prime minister warned that his citizens are turning against the single currency.
Valdis Dombrovskis, who led one of Europe’s toughest austerity programmes in part to keep Latvia’s euro membership hopes alive, says he faces a struggle to get the Baltic republic into the single currency by the 2014 target.
“Five years ago before the eurozone crisis everyone wanted to enter the euro, but we weren’t economically ready. Now that we are ready to enter, many have become sceptical,” said the centre-right leader.
Bulgaria, which like the Baltic states has pegged its currency to the euro for a decade and is one of only three EU countries that currently meet the Maastricht entry criteria in full, has recently made clear it has no short-term plans to move towards membership.
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