(1)

Council Regulation (EC) No 974/98 (1) provides for the substitution of the euro for the currencies of the Member States which fulfilled the necessary conditions for the adoption of the euro at the time when the Community entered the third stage of economic and monetary union.

(2)

In accordance with Article 4 of the 2003 Act of Accession, Lithuania is a Member State with a derogation as defined in Article 139(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (the ‘Treaty’).

(3)

Pursuant to Council Decision 2014/509/EU of 23 July 2014 on the adoption by Lithuania of the euro on 1 January 2015 (2), Lithuania fulfils the necessary conditions for the adoption of the euro and the derogation in favour of Lithuania is to be abrogated with effect from 1 January 2015.

(4)

The introduction of the euro in Lithuania requires the extension to Lithuania of the existing provisions on the introduction of the euro set out in Regulation (EC) No 974/98.

(5)

Lithuania's National Euro Changeover Plan specifies that euro banknotes and coins should become legal tender in Lithuania on the day of the introduction of the euro as its currency. Consequently, the euro adoption date and the cash changeover date should be 1 January 2015. No ‘phasing-out’ period should apply.

(6)

Regulation (EC) No 974/98 should therefore be amended accordingly,