Sofia had expressed hope of being able to join the EU monetary zone in the middle of next year, but it must meet strict economic criteria.
Bulgaria cannot enter the euro zone due to its high inflation, according to a report published today (June 26) by the European Central Bank. This will disappoint Sofia, which aims to become the currency zone’s 21st member, despite popular concern that it could exacerbate price rise in the Balkan country.
“Member States of the European Union not belonging to the euro zone have made limited progress on economic convergence with the euro area since 2022,” the ECB said in a press release.
According to the ECB, the prices in Bulgaria are rising to a annual rhythm of 5.1%, 1.8 percentage points above what they would need to join the monetary union, although he added that the inflation “will gradually decline in the coming months” as supply bottlenecks ease.
Countries do not automatically join the euro when they join the EU, but are expected to do so once they have converged with legal and economic normsincluding stable exchange rates and healthy public finances. The only exceptions are Sweden and Denmark, which negotiated their political and legal exclusion and maintain their national currencies.
Political unrest
On June 4, according to the Bulgarian news agency ‘BTA’, Deputy Finance Minister Metodi Metodiev expressed his hope that Bulgaria could join the euro in mid-2025, as some economic conditions more favorable conditions would allow you to request a additional evaluation to the EU.
However, a few days later, the national and European elections, in which the extreme right obtained a good result, plunged the country into political confusion.The pro-Russian ultranationalist Vazrazhdane party obtained about 14% of the votes and three of the 17 MEPs of the country, after stating that the euro would destroy the Bulgarian economy.
The GERB party, led by former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, will now need at least two partners to form a government coalition. According to a Eurobarometer survey, only 49% of Bulgarian citizens are in favor of join the euroand 64% of the population thinks it will raise prices even more.
Inflationary fears
After the pandemic, inflation in some EU countries soared to 17%, as the war in Ukraine raised prices. energy and food costs. The ECB, in charge of keeping inflation around 2%, checks how the inflation of the euro candidates with the best results in the EU, which last year were Denmark, Belgium and the Netherlands.
Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Romania have not adapted their legislation to EU standards and have not acceded to the exchange rate mechanisma means of avoiding sudden fluctuations in the currency with the euro.
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