Latvia reluctantly joins euro after shock therapy, but controversy rages on

The country has endured a 1930s-style depression and a drastic experiment in EU shock therapy with stoicism, abiding strictly to the terms of an EU-IMF bail-out
 

The tiny Baltic nation of Latvia is to join the euro on New Year's Day against the wishes of its own people, becoming the eighteenth and poorest member of monetary union five years after its economy crashed in flames.

The country has endured a 1930s-style depression and a drastic experiment in EU shock therapy with stoicism, abiding strictly to the terms of an EU-IMF bail-out.