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World Service,10 Dec 2013,24 mins

Latvia Joins the Euro

Business Daily

Available for over a year

Why would any country want to join the Euro, a currency in crisis, let alone one of the fastest growing nation's on the continent? Yet, on 1 January, Latvia will become the 18th member of the currency. Damien McGuinness has been there to find out why? And Latvia is not the only country that wants closer ties with the EU. Many in Europe's largest nation, Ukraine, wanted to sign up to a free trade agreement with Europe and were furious when the country's president, Viktor Yanukovych, decided not to, opting for a custom's union with Russia instead. James Sherr is associate fellow of the Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House in London and the author of Hard Diplomacy Soft Coercion: Russia's Influence Abroad. He tells us he believes the current crisis will get worse. Plus, will anyone be able to afford to see the Brazilian World Cup?

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