The promotional campaign before the euro introduction in Latvia will cost the nation about 285,000 lats (or €405,000 euros), Mixnews reports. The popularization campaign titled Natural Law 1 is going to be launched by the Mooz! and Komunikāciju aģentūra agencies. Mooz! Creative Director Eriks Stendzanieks told that the developers compared the euro introduction with the natural processes. “Just as an oak grows from an acorn, and a butterfly develops from a cocoon, the lat has grown up and will now become the euro,” Stendzanieks said.
Supposedly Latvia will enter the eurozone on January 1, 2014. However, the public surveys show that more that 60% of Latvian citizens speak out against the eurozone membership.
The Ministers of the Economy and Finance of the European Union approved the Latvia’s entry in early July. Previously, the Baltic country obtained the approval from the European Parliament and Central Bank.
Latvia will be the eighteenth country that introduced the official currency of the euro area. Estonia has been the member since January 1, 2011, while Lithuania is supposed to join in 2015. The Latvia’s membership had been discussed since 2008. The date of the euro introduction had been postponed. To get the admission, the country needed to fulfill several basic EU requirements regarding inflation, budget deficit, and other macroeconomic indicators that was impossible due to the global economic crisis. The country had to take some austerity measures, including the social spending cuts (pensions, state employees’ wages).
