Lithuania is unlikely to adopt the euro in 2014, the Baltic state’s President Dalia Grybauskaite said in an interview published yesterday, while refusing to speculate whether the single currency would survive.

The country, which joined the EU in 2004, had hoped to adopt the euro in 2007 but failed narrowly to meet the entry criteria

Ms Grybauskaite, also the EU’s former budget chief, told Lithuania’s Veidas weekly “2014 is unrealistic” for her country’s eurozone accession.

“In a way, we have the euro today because the (national currency) litas is pegged to it,” she added.

The Baltic state’s centre-right government targeted 2014 as a potential date for eurozone entry, but officials have become more cautious in the shadow of the debt crisis now threatening the very existence of the euro.

Some analysts contend Lithuania may not be able to switch from its national currency, the litas, until 2016 or 2017 because of problems meeting the eurozone’s in-flation and deficit criteria.

Ms Grybauskaite hailed recent EU decisions on “stricter finance policy”, but warned it would take at least two years to overcome the debt crisis.

“The difficulties that Europe is facing accumulated over a decade, so it will take two or three years until everything comes back into place,” she said.

“Will the euro remain? I would not like to speculate on this issue. Most important is responsible fiscal discipline in all countries,” Ms Grybauskaite insisted.

Lithuania, which joined the European Union in 2004, had hoped to adopt the euro in 2007 but failed narrowly to meet the entry criteria.

The Baltic nation of three million was then hard hit by the global financial crisis, suffering a 14.6 per cent decline in output in 2009.

It returned to growth in 2010, with output expanding 1.3 per cent. Lithuania’s output was expected to grow by 5.8 per cent in 2011 and 2.5 per cent this year, according to finance ministry estimates.

The government has insisted repeatedly that despite the eurozone crisis, it is better to be inside the currency union alongside Lithuania’s main economic partners.