5 cent Lithuania 2018 (UNC)

Lithuania (the Republic of Lithuania), is the state of 3 million in the Baltic Sea coast. They are a member of the European Union since 1 May 2004. Originally they planned to adopt the euro instead of the litas from 1 January 2007. They request was rejected by comission, as they fulfilled only four of five condition defined (the inflation rate was too high). In the history of euro, this was the first time that an EU member state's application was rejected. After the elections, the Lithuanian parliament defined the introduction of the euro as one of major priorities. In 2013 the parliament official declared the adoption on January 1, 2015.

Lithuania is the 19th member of the euro zone. The national support is around 50%. Now, all three Baltic states will be part of eurozone (Estonia since 2011, Latvia since 2014). The exchange rate is 1 EUR = 3.45280 litas. The coins will be minted in the Lithuanian national mint in Vilnius.

The national side of the Lithuanian circulation euro coins was designed by the sculptor Antanas Žukauskas. He imagined the symbol from the emblem of the Lithuanian State — Vytis, and it is surrounded by the inscriptions LIETUVA (Lithuania), 2015 and twelve stars: on the 1 and 2 euro coins — a background of vertical lines; the 10, 20 and 50 euro cent coins — horizontal lines; on the 1, 2 and 5 euro cent coins — a plain surface.

The edge of the Lithuanian 2 euro coin bears the inscription: LAISVĖ, VIENYBĖ, GEROVĖ (Freedom, Unity, Well-Being).