Latvia passes laws crucial for euro switch

Baltic state Latvia, which wants to adopt the euro in 2014, passed a fiscal discipline law on Thursday and another setting out guidelines for the proposed currency switch, key steps to satisfy the European Union it is on track to join the euro zone. Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis said he now plans to ask the European Commission and the European Central Bank for euro-readiness assessment reports in the first half of March.
Based on the two convergence reports, the leaders of the 27-nation EU will make a final decision this summer on Latvia's euro zone membership. Latvian officials are confident the country will meet the Maastricht economic criteria to demonstrate its readiness. "We are currently 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," Dombrovskis told reporters at parliament.