Lithuania switches over to the euro on Thursday, becoming the last Baltic nation to adopt Europe’s single currency, as it hopes to boost stability despite fears of inflation and eurozone debt woes.

Baltic leaders will withdraw their first euros from a Vilnius bank machine just after midnight, as the eurozone gains its 19th member and fireworks sign off a year marked by alarm over Russia's role in the Ukraine conflict and its economic crisis.

For a nation scarred by decades of Soviet occupation, eurozone entry is an important step and symbol of "deeper

economic and political integration with the West”, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite said in a statement

Other countries once behind the Iron Curtain are now enjoying top positions in the European Union: former Polish premier Donald Tusk took over as president of the European Council in December, while Latvia assumes the rotating EU presidency on January 1.

The three Baltics broke free from the Soviet Union in 1990-1991 before joining the EU and NATO in 2004. Estonia and Latvia became eurozone members in 2011 and 2014.

But in the run-up to the change

from the litas to the euro, public support has wavered.

Fifty-three percent of the population of three million backed the euro and 3 9 percent were against, according to a November survey released by the central bank.

"I support the euro because it leads to greater integration into the EU and makes travelling in the EU easier," said 26-year-old lawyer Karolis Turcinavicius.

But pensioner Danute Petkeviciene remained skeptical. "The euro will not increase pensions or wages, it will only increase prices. But they have already decided," she said.