Eurogroup approves Estonian accession to Eurozone in 2011

"Estonia will become the 17th member of the Eurozone from January 1, 2011," Junker told journalists.

The Baltic state was given the green light to join the single currency on May 12.

European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso said the commission has not made any concessions for Estonia and that the Estonian authorities have strictly complied with the Maastricht criteria.

According to the criteria, the inflation rate of any country attempting to join the Eurozone cannot exceed the average of the three best performing countries by more than 1.5 % during the year prior to formal assessment

Additionally, the country's national budget deficit cannot exceed 3% of GDP and national debt must not he higher than 60% of GDP.

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania originally planned to join the Eurozone in 2009 but their entry was delayed by two years due to the financial crisis. Other countries hoping to join in the near future are Hungary (by 2011), Poland (2012), Romania (2014) and Czech Republic (2015.), RIA Novosti reports.

See www.en.rian.ru