EU report to indicate whether Lithuania qualifies for euro adoption

The European Union (EU)'s 2014 Convergence Report set for launch on June 4 will indicate whether Lithuania, which aims to adopt the euro in 2015, fulfills the criteria, according to the official calendar of the EU institutions.
The Convergence Report, which examines whether EU member states satisfy the conditions for adopting the single currency, this year will cover eight member states, namely Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Sweden.
Olli Rehn, European Commission Vice President for Economic and Monetary Affairs and the Euro, is due to present the main findings of the 2014 Convergence Report at the midday briefing on June 4.
Convergence reports are issued by the European Commission and the European Central Bank every two years, or more often if a country intending to join the euro requests it. These reports form the basis for the decision on whether a member state may join the euro area.
The euro area, also known as the eurozone, consists of those European Union countries which have adopted the euro as their currency. It currently has 18 member states.
But the euro area is not static -- under the Treaty, all EU member states have to join the euro area once the necessary conditions are fulfilled, except Denmark and Britain which have negotiated an "opt-out" clause that allows them to remain outside the euro area.