Lithuania joins eurozone to seal ties with West

Lithuania switched over to the euro on Thursday, becoming the last Baltic nation to adopt Europe's single currency in a bid to boost stability despite fears of inflation and eurozone debt woes.

Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius withdrew his first 10-euro bill ($12) from a Vilnius cash machine after midnight, as the euro currency area gained its 19th member and fireworks signed off a year marked by alarm over Russia's role in the Ukraine conflict and its economic crisis.

"The euro will serve as a guarantee for our economic and political security," he said at a ceremony alongside officials from fellow Baltic states Estonia and Latvia.

For a nation scarred by decades of Soviet occupation, eurozone entry is an important step and a symbol of "deeper economic and political integration with the West", Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite said earlier.

A total of 337 million Europeans now share the euro currency.

Other countries once behind the Iron Curtain now provide some of the leading figures in the European Union. Former Polish premier Donald Tusk took over as president of the European Council in December, while Latvia assumes the rotating EU presidency on January 1.The three Baltic states broke free from the Soviet Union in 1990-1991 before joining the EU and NATO in 2004. Estonia and Latvia became eurozone members in 2011 and 2014.

"In joining the euro, the Lithuanian people are choosing to be part of an area of stability, security and prosperity," EU economic affairs commissioner Pierre Moscovici said.

But in the run-up to the change from the litas to the euro, public support has wavered.

Fifty-three percent of the population of three million backed the euro and 39 percent were against, according to a November survey released by the central bank. "Lithuania is a European Union country, and the currency must be the same. I really support it," 44-year-old Robertas Rancys said.

But Vida Zurziene, in her 50s, said she would feel nostalgic about the litas: "I'm keeping some coins so I can show them to my grandchildren."