Introductory text

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Protocol (No 4) on the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank annexed to the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular to Article 27.1 thereof,

Having regard to Recommendation ECB/2014/58 of the European Central Bank of 16 December 2014 to the Council of the European Union on the external auditors of Lietuvos bankas^f1,

Whereas:

The accounts of the European Central Bank (ECB) and of the national central banks of the Eurosystem are to be audited by independent external auditors recommended by the Governing Council of the ECB and approved by the Council of the European Union.

Pursuant to Article 1 of Council Decision 2014/509/EU^f2 Lithuania fulfils the necessary conditions for the adoption of the euro, and the derogation in favour of Lithuania referred to in Article 4 of the 2003 Act of Accession^f3 is abrogated with effect from 1 January 2015.

The Governing Council of the ECB recommended that UAB PricewaterhouseCoopers be appointed as the external auditors of the Lietuvos bankas for the financial years 2015 to 2017.

It is appropriate to follow the recommendation of the Governing Council of the ECB and to amend Council Decision 1999/70/EC^f4 accordingly,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: