EU finance, economy ministers approve next step towards Bulgaria adopting the euro
The European Union’s Economic and Financial Affairs Council, Ecofin – made up of finance and economy ministers of all EU member states – agreed on June 20 to the next step towards Bulgaria adopting the euro as of January 1 2026.
This was confirmed at a news conference after the Ecofin meeting by European Commissioner for Economy Valdis Dombrovskis.
The move follows the Eurogroup endorsing on June 19 a recommendation from euro area member states to the Council of the European Union, that Bulgaria becomes a member of the euro zone as of the beginning of January next year.
The ministers of the Eurogroup – an informal body made up of the finance ministers from the euro area member states – agreed with the positive assessments provided by the European Commission and the European Central Bank regarding Bulgaria’s fulfilment of the convergence criteria in their respective convergence reports, released on June 4.
The June 20 news conference was told that the Ecofin decision on Bulgaria was unanimous.
On July 8, Ecofin will make its final decision on admitting Bulgaria to the euro zone. The process before then involves consultations with the European Central Bank and the European Parliament. A draft report on Bulgaria adopting the euro is on the agenda of the June 24 meeting of the European Parliament’s economic and monetary affairs committee.
Earlier on June 20, Bulgarian Prime Minister Rossen Zhelyazkov said that state authorities were “on the ground, monitoring price dynamics and will seek answers to their unjustified, in some specific goods, increase, which has nothing to do with the euro”.
Zhelyazkov said that the Consumer Protection Commission, the Competition Protection Commission and other regulatory and control bodies will be in place and will maximize their powers.
“The important thing that has been achieved so far is the high degree of coordination between them, and not only on the basis of the signed agreements, but also on the basis of how they will complement the regulatory and control functions within the framework of the law,” he said.
Zhelyazkov said that the state’s goal is not to intervene in the market, but to prevent its distortion, mainly due to internal factors.
He said that the current information campaign about the euro will not be politically motivated, nor propaganda. Information from reliable sources will be used, so as to address people’s fears and concerns and at the same time ensure predictability, including with regard to the market environment, Zhelyazkov said.
In Parliament, Democratic Bulgaria MPs – part of the reformist opposition coalition We Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria – said that they were tabling a bill to amend the Consumer Protection Act, which will oblige large chains to publish the prices of their main products every day, until the middle of next year – not just by category, but by specific products.
The data will be published both on the websites of the retailers and will be sent to the Ministry of Economy, which will summarize them and make them available to citizens.
“This way, people will really know what has risen and what has not, and in which shop,” MP Bozhidar Bozhanov said.
“They will be able to compare, we will all know the current, real data and we will not rely on some representative of the authorities to go and tell us how much a water in a shop has risen. This way, all kinds of speculators will be pointed out in an instant,” Bozhanov said.
On June 19, National Revenue Agency head Roumen Spetsov said in a television interview that since the convergence reports, prices in shops had risen in all 14 categories checked, and he cited a brand of mineral water having risen by 40 per cent.
(Photo: BrayLockBoy, via Wikimedia Commons)
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