Lithuania welcomed a New Year and a new currency on Thursday, becoming the last Baltic nation to adopt the euro in a bid to boost stability despite fears of inflation and eurozone debt woes, AFP reported. Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius withdrew his first 10-euro bill ($12) from a Vilnius cash machine after midnight, as 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,” Butkevicius said at a ceremony alongside officials from Estonia and Latvia.
