History of the euro adopting the currency on that date. In 2013 Latvia gained the support of the European Commission, Central Bank and Parliament for accession on 1 January 2014 with Latvia adopting the currency on that date. On 23 July 2014 Lithuania became the last Baltic state to gain permission to join the euro, which was adopted on 1 January 2015. The chart below provides a full summary of all applying exchange-rate regimes for EU members, since the European Monetary System with its Exchange Rate Mechanism and the related new common currency ECU was born on 13 March 1979. The euro replaced the
Latvian lats and 50 santīmu were nickel, while coins of 1 lats and above were in silver, with a purity of 83,5 percent. The Latvian Bank issued notes from 1922 in denominations of 20, 25, 50, 100 and 500 latu. They also issued 10 latu notes which were 500 rubli notes overprinted with the new denomination. The government issued currency notes from 1925 in denominations of 5, 10 and 20 latu. The lats was reintroduced on 5 March 1993, replacing the Latvian rublis, which continued to circulate and kept validity until and including 30 June 1994 at a rate of 200 rubļu