On Monday 17 February, the President of the Eurogroup, Paschal Donohoe, welcomed the efforts of the Bulgarian authorities to be able to adopt the single currency, potentially by early 2026.
Once it considers that it is ready, the Bulgarian government will submit a request to the ECB and the European Commission to produce updated convergence reports, said Mr Donohoe.
“Bulgaria has made further progress towards meeting the price stability criterion, which was the only criterion it did not meet in the 2024 convergence report”, said the European Commissioner for Economic Affairs, Valdis Dombrovskis (see EUROPE 13440/18). He encouraged the Bulgarian authorities to “maintain sound public finances”, expecting to receive their multiannual budget programme “shortly”, in line with the revised Stability and Growth Pact.
Mr Dombrovskis also welcomed finance minister Lyudmila Petkova’s commitment that the necessary legal changes concerning the independence of the Bulgarian Central Bank will be made. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)