At a General Affairs Council meeting on 23 July, Lithuania saw the final and definitive approval of its adoption of the euro. The Council approved the required legislation and Lithuania will hence become the 19th eurozone Member State on 1 January 2015. The conversion rate was set to 3.45280 litas/€. The Italian Presidency called the enlargement of the euro-area an important step in demonstrating its continuing attractiveness. The Council also congratulated Lithuania on the achievement. Lithuania was close to adopting the euro in 2008, but at that time narrowly failed the inflation criterion.

The EU affairs ministers of the EU28 also discussed the Italian Presidency program and approved several legislative acts relating to securities market, banking services, investor-to-state dispute settlements, GMOs, electronic identification or Maritime Safety Agency. The mid-term review of the Europe 2020 strategy was also on the agenda.

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