Extending the Euro

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: The eurozone continues to grow, but also continues to show the strains of its heterodox European membership.

The generally good news for the now 19-member zone of the euro, the European currency, is that as of Jan. 1 it added one more member, Lithuania. Its economy is not particularly strong, meaning that the eurozone may have added a member that could present problems down the road.

From the point of view of Lithuania itself, joining the euro made good sense, strengthening its position within the European Union and further fortifying it as a Baltic state against any evil intentions that Russia may bear toward it. The other two Baltics, Estonia and Latvia, are already members.

At the same time, Greece, another eurozone member, is once again making menacing noises about abandoning the euro and returning to its national currency, the drachma. Greece’s population has been chafing under the austerity measures imposed upon it as part of a European and International Monetary Fund bailout of its economy in 2010.