Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant passages that can help answer the question.
Query: Is Latvia in the Euro zone?
The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain. Other EU states (except for Denmark and the United Kingdom) are obliged to join once they meet the criteria to do so.[8] No state has left, and there are no provisions to do so or to be expelled.[9] Andorra, Monaco, San Marino, and Vatican City have formal agreements with the EU to use the euro as their official currency and issue their own coins.[10][11][12] Kosovo and Montenegro have adopted the euro unilaterally,[13] but these countries do not officially form part of the eurozone and do not have representation in the European Central Bank (ECB) or in the Eurogroup.[14]
On 3 June 2008 European Union finance ministers gave Slovakia the green light to join the euro zone in 2009 while urging the country to be ready to fight inflation with tight fiscal policies. "We are happy to see Slovakia join the euro zone on January 1, 2009," Jean-Claude Juncker, who chairs the Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers, told reporters.
Latvian euro coins feature three separate designs on the national side, which were publicised in July 2006 on the home page of the National Bank of Latvia. The designs featured were the Latvian maiden, which was featured on the 5 lats coin prior to World War II, on the 1 and 2 euro coins, the greater coat of arms of Latvia on the 10, 20 and 50-cent coins, and the lesser Coat of arms of Latvia on the 1, 2 and 5-cent coins. Originally, it was planned that the Freedom Monument would be featured on the 2 euro coin, but the original design did not meet the regulations of the ECB since it reached out into the ring of the coin and changed one of the stars. Latvia decided that a changed design of the monument would not be as recognisable and decided to use the Latvian maiden, used on the 1 euro coin, on the 2 euro coin as well.
In 2010 Folkerts-Landau predicted that the Euro-zone would survive the debt crisis. "We believe that the Euro-zone will survive this current crisis. (…) [T]here is no way the political and financial leadership of the core Euro-zone countries are going to sacrifice the whole single currency project over a default by Greece or Portugal".
Some members of Latvia's parliament, the Saeima, originally pushed for a referendum on euro adoption, but Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis argued that a referendum is unnecessary because Latvians already voted in favour of their EU accession treaty in 2003, which binds them to adopt the euro as soon as the country is found to comply with all the convergence criteria. He argued that, given the legal obligation, a referendum could only serve to delay or prevent euro adoption. According to Latvian law, if more than 1/3 of all members of parliament object to a bill, and propose an alternative bill within two weeks of the original bill being passed by parliament, a referendum can be called to allow the public to decide between the two bills. On 31 January 2013, the Latvian parliament passed its "euro adoption bill". Four days later, the biggest opposition party, Harmony Center, stated that it would not support the alternative "referendum bill", which was tabled by the other opposition party, Union of Greens and Farmers. Shortly after this, on 9 February, the referendum proposal had only gathered the support of 4 out of the Saeima's 100 members. These MPs stated that they would turn to the last remaining legal option to force a referendum: gathering a petition of at least 30,000 electoral signatories. Latvia officially requested an extraordinary convergence report to assess their readiness for euro adoption on 4 March 2013. Latvia's Central Election Commission rejected the proposed referendum on 18 March, as the proposed bill was considered not to comply with the Latvian constitution or Latvia's international obligations.
Latvia–Russia border is the state border between Republic of Latvia (EU member) and the Russian Federation (CIS member). The length of the border is 214 km. The access-restricted Border Security Zone of Russia lies along the border on the Russian side. In order to visit this zone, a permit issued by the local FSB department is required (the only exceptions are international border transit points).
In October 2007 Butriks was called up to the Latvia squad for their UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Group F match against Iceland on 13 October, but he did not play in the match. He made his debut for Latvia on 17 October in their Euro 2008 qualifying match against Denmark, when he came on as a substitute in the 63rd minute. All in all, he collected 4 international appearances for Latvia.
Since 2002 the Royal Dutch Mint has been allowed to strike coins for foreign national banks in the euro zone, and strikes coins for Latvia, Guatemala and Honduras. Furthermore, the Dutch Royal Mint produces commemorative coins and coins intended for collectors (some of these are official coins, some not) and royal medals.
He started working with the Latvia national team in 2001 as assistant to Aleksandrs Starkovs. He was assistant manager when Latvia qualified for and played in Euro 2004, held in Portugal. When Starkovs moved to Russia in 2004 with Spartak Moscow he also gave up his post as Latvia manager on 17 November and Andrejevs was promoted in his place by the Latvian Football Federation Latvia lost the first match with him in charge to Oman, 3–2, in Bahrain. However, Andrejevs had used the match to give fringe squad players a chance to play. Latvia won the King's Cup in Thailand in 2005. He resigned as Latvia manager following a 1–0 defeat on 28 March 2007 to Liechtenstein in a Euro 2008 qualifying match. It was only Liechtensteins second ever win in the competition
Latvia is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe, one of the three Baltic states. Latvia is a democratic and developed country and member of the European Union, NATO, the Council of Europe, the United Nations, CBSS, the IMF, NB8, NIB, OECD, OSCE, and WTO. For 2014, Latvia was listed 46th on the Human Development Index and as a high income country on 1 July 2014. It used the Latvian lats as its currency until it was replaced by the euro on 1 January 2014.
Latvia's Treaty of Accession to the European Union (EU) obliged it to eventually adopt the euro. Latvia had originally planned to adopt the euro on 1 January 2008, but for various reasons this was subsequently delayed several times. After being elected in 2011, Latvian President Andris Bērziņš announced the official goal was for Latvia to join the eurozone in 2014, saying "personally I'm very optimistic we'll join the euro on 1 January 2014. It's our goal and we are working hard to implement this process." In September 2012, Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis reiterated that "Latvia is on track for 2014 and permission to join would be sought in 2013."
Before Latvia could adopt the euro, it had to meet five convergence criteria set by the EU. An assessment by the European Central Bank (ECB) in April 2012 found that Latvia met three of the five criteria. The Latvian Finance Minister announced in December 2012 that since convergence checks were only conducted biennially, an extraordinary report would be requested in February 2013, but in January 2013 Prime Minister Dombrovskis stated that for "technical reasons" the request had been delayed until March. However, he was confident that Latvia was "fulfilling the Maastricht euro adoption criteria with a considerable reserve, therefore I don't see any basis on which this convergence report would be negative." The Latvian government formally applied for a convergence check at the beginning of March, and the resulting convergence report, published on 5 June 2013 by the European Commission, concluded that "the Commission considers that Latvia fulfils the conditions for the adoption of the euro." The ECB simultaneously published a report which noted that "Latvia is within the reference values of the convergence criteria". Latvia's adoption of the euro, a legal obligation now that the convergence criteria have been met, was given final approval by the Economic and Financial Affairs Council on 9 July, and the lats was replaced with the euro on 1 January 2014. The Euro switchover ceremony took place at a site where Latvia’s crisis began – the former headquarters of the collapsed Parex bank, now headquarters of state-owned Citatele bank, which emerged from Parex’s ruins.
In November 2011, he expressed the view that the European Monetary Union (euro zone) leave Greece, Hungary, Portugal, Ireland, Spain, Italy and Latvia, because these countries have a huge government debt. At that time, neither Latvia nor Hungary is not part of the Eurozone.
The IMF/EU program successfully concluded in December 2011. The government of Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis remained committed to fiscal prudence and reducing the fiscal deficit from 7.7% of GDP in 2010, to 2.7% of GDP in 2012." The CIA estimated that Latvia's GDP declined by 0.3% in 2010, then grew by 5.5% in 2011 and 4.5% in 2012. Unemployment was 12.8% in 2011 and rose to 14.3% in 2012. Latvia's currency, the Lati, fell from $0.47 per U.S. dollar in 2008 to $0.55 in 2012, a decline of 17%. Latvia entered the euro zone in 2014. Latvia's trade deficit improved from over 20% of GDP in 2006 to 2007 to under 2% GDP by 2012.
This made it the last of the three Baltic states to adopt the euro, after Estonia (2011) and Latvia (2014). Before then, its currency, the litas, was pegged to the euro at 3.4528 litas to 1 euro.
Latvia replaced its previous currency, the lats, with the euro on 1 January 2014, after a European Union (EU) assessment in June 2013 asserted that the country had met all convergence criteria necessary for euro adoption.
The adoption process began 1 May 2004, when Latvia joined the European Union, entering the EU's Economic and Monetary Union. At the start of 2005, the lats was pegged to the euro at Ls 0.702804 = €1, and Latvia joined the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM ll), four months later on 2 May 2005.
In September 2003, Latvia surprisingly finished second, ahead of Poland, in their qualifying group for Euro 2004. This meant they qualified for the play-offs, where they were drawn against Turkey. Latvia won the first leg 1–0, through top goalscorer, Māris Verpakovskis. The second leg finished in a 2–2 draw, with Latvia winning 3–2 on aggregate, thus qualifying for the tournament. This resulted in Latvia being the first and only Baltic team qualifying for a European Championship. At the Euro 2004, Latvia were drawn in Group D, alongside Germany, Czech Republic, and Netherlands. Latvia faced Czech Republic in their opening match on 15 June 2004, with Verpakovskis scoring before half-time. However, the Czechs would later come back to win the game 2–1. Four days later, Latvia earned a respectable 0–0 draw against Germany to earn their first point in a major tournament. They lost their final match with 3–0 against Netherlands, and were eliminated, finishing fourth, with one point from their draw and two losses.
A tender for minting the Latvian euro coins began on 20 September 2012. On 10 December 2012, it was announced that Latvia will utilise the Baden-Württemberg Mint. The coins were minted in Stuttgart except the 1 cent, 10 cent and 1 euro coins, which were minted in Karlsruhe. The production of Latvian euros began in July 2013.
Membership in the EU also envisages joining EMU and the euro. After joining the EU, Latvia had to demonstrate its ability to meet the EMU accession criteria. One of these criteria was the two-year membership of the Exchange Rate Mechanism II (ERM II). Latvia joined it on May 2, 2005. ERM II means that at least two years before the euro changeover, the lats had been pegged to euro and the exchange rate of the lats against the euro may fluctuate by no more than +/- 15% against the lats pegging rate in euro. 
The 2016 Euro RX of Latvia was the eighth round of the forty-first season of the FIA European Rallycross Championship. The event was held at the Biķernieku Kompleksā Sporta Bāze in Riga, Latvia as an undercard to the 2016 World RX of Latvia and was contested by the Supercar (fifth and final round) and Super1600 (fourth round) classes. It was the first ever European Rallycross round held in Latvia.
The Latvia national football team in 2003 qualified to Euro 2004. This resulted in being the first and currently only Baltic national team to do so. FK Ventspils is only team from Latvia, which had played in group stage of UEFA Europe League (2009–10). There isn't team from Latvia, which had played in group stage of UEFA Champions League.
2018 - Strengthening Joint Euro-Atlantic Security Space - A Perspective From Latvia. H.E. Ms Baiba Braže, Ambassador of the Republic of Latvia to the U.K.
Liepāja Special Economic Zone () - is a zone in Liepāja, Latvia with a lowered tax rates, compared to the rest of the territory of Latvia. Liepāja Special Economic zone was established in 1997 for a 20-year period with the aim of developing trade, industry, shipping and air traffic, as well as international freight flow via Latvia. The goal of the Liepāja SEZ is to attract investments for the development of manufacturing and infrastructure, and creation of new jobs.
This scheme was launched in November 2017, and was at that time operational for end customers in eight euro zone countries, and is expected soon to be available in most euro zone countries and potentially in all SEPA countries.
Latvia is a member of the World Trade Organization (1999) and the European Union (2004). On 1 January 2014, the Euro became the country's currency, superseding the Lats. According to statistics in late 2013, 45% of the population supported the introduction of the euro, while 52% opposed it. Following the introduction of the Euro, Eurobarometer surveys in January 2014 showed support for the Euro to be around 53%, close to the European average.