Asked by reporters after the political council on Tuesday whether he supported this idea, he replied: “No, we have declared that clearly and stated that clearly.”
Butkevičius said that the Order and Justice party had stated its opinion on the referendum but had not asked to discuss this initiative in the political council. He stated that Lithuania would next year apply for euro zone membership.
“Next year we will apply for the adoption of the euro in Lithuania. There are no other decisions,” he said.
Environment Minister Valentinas Mazuronis of the Order and Justice party said that his party believed that Lithuanian voters should be given a chance to decide on euro adoption. He added that the party had not made any decisions whether it was necessary to join the euro zone. Mazuronis said that this matter should be discussed so that voters could make the final decision.
Lithuania’s government plans to adopt the euro in 2015. The Cabinet has already approved the national euro adoption plan.
