"I congratulated prime minister for Lithuania's intention to join euro area in 2015 and I promised our close cooperation to achieve this purpose," Barroso said after a meeting with Lithuania's Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius.
Speaking at a joint news conference, the EC president also stressed that fiscal consolidation is a precondition for economic development.
"We agreed that fiscal consolidation and structural reforms are a prerequisite for sustainable growth and job creation," Barroso said.
To join the eurozone, a country has to meet the so-called Maastricht criteria on public finance deficit, inflation, and debt. Lithuania failed to adopt the euro in 2007 due to an inflation indicator that was too high. Analysts say the indicator is the major threat to reaching the goal in 2015.
Lithuania's neighboring Latvia intends to change its currency to the euro next year.
