OREANDA-NEWS. July 09, 2013. At meeting of the European Council, the leaders of the European Union congratulated Latvia on meeting all criteria allowing it to change over to the euro on 1 January 2014.

“Latvia’s accession to the euro zone is beneficial not only for Latvia but for the whole Baltic Sea region and Europe as a whole,” said Prime Minister Andrus Ansip at the summit. “Thanks to the euro, the entire region will become more attractive. Despite the difficulties due to the debt crisis, the euro is a trustworthy currency. No one talks about the imminent collapse of the euro zone anymore. On the contrary – there is demand for joining the euro zone.”

Croatia, which will become the 28th member state of the European Union on 1 July 2013, was also congratulated.

With regard to further enlargement of the European Union, it was decided to launch accession negotiations with Serbia. The European Council will approve the plan of negotiations in December at its usual session on enlargement.

In addition, the leaders of the European Union decided to launch talks with Kosovo for the signing of a stabilization and association agreement.

Prime Minister Ansip said progress by a stronger Latvia, Croatia, Serbia and Kosovo will strengthen the entire European Union.

“These developments show that the European Union is becoming stronger and is continuing its process of integration,” said Ansip. “This emphasizes Europe’s stability and attractiveness.”

The European Council concluded the European semester – the six-month-long financial and budgetary policy coordination cycle – by endorsing recommendations for member states regarding state budgets, structural reforms and employment and social policy.

The two-day summit also dealt with a number of other topics pertaining to the competitiveness of the European Union. The heads of government agreed on a plan to fight youth unemployment and for supporting ways of financing small and medium-sized enterprises.

Discussions on completing the economic and monetary union also continued at the summit. The leaders of the European Union stressed that the establishment of banking union is of top priority when it comes to ensuring financial stability and restoring ordinary lending activity. The European Council welcomed an earlier agreement of the finance ministers on the draft directive establishing a framework for the recovery and resolution of banks and the Single Supervisory Mechanism.

“Estonia can be satisfied with the summit ended,” said Ansip. “To sum up, our decisions proceeded from the understanding that the trustworthiness of the state’s public finances and measures that support sustainable economic growth and job creation reinforce each other.”