The Council has officially allowed Latvia to introduce the euro as of 1 January 2014, the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) concluded. Croatia's Finance Minister Slavko Linic took part in the decision making, attending the ECOFIN meeting as a full member for the first time since Croatia joined the European Union on July 1.

Latvia's Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis welcomed the decision, saying that this was good for his country and the eurozone.

We are joining on 1 January 2014. That is good news for Latvia and good news for the eurozone, Dombrovskis told a press conference in Brussels.

In order to join the eurozone, it is necessary to fulfill four Maastricht criteria: price stability or a low inflation rate, healthy public finances, stable foreign currency exchange rate and a low interest rate.

The eurozone currently consists of 17 member countries with 330 million residents. Latvia is the sixth of the new member countries to enter the eurozone following Slovenia, Cyprus, Malta, Slovakia and Estonia.