Vilnius - One hundred days after he swept to power in a general election, Lithuanian Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius sounded an optimistic note Wednesday about his country's chances of adopting the euro.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting with President Valdas Adamkus, Kubilius said Lithuania would be ready "at any time" to replace its national currency, the lita, with the pan-European currency.

"We are not asking for short cuts. We are doing our homework and will continue to do so," Kubilius said of efforts to meet the Maastricht criteria which set out the rules for euro adoption.

But Kubilius added that one method of tackling the economic and financial crisis in Europe might be a faster introduction of the euro to candidate countries.

"If the EU would accept such a decision, we certainly would not oppose it," Kubilius said.

The three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania all want to adopt the euro as quickly as possible as part of efforts to stabilize their see-sawing economies which have gone into sharp declines after years of rapid growth.

They narrowly missed out on euro adoption in 2007 after failing to bring inflation under control.

Kubilius said Lithuania would likely come close to meeting all the Maastricht criteria again in early 2010. (dpa)