After joining the euro area in early 2026 (see EUROPE 13779/18), Bulgaria will officially become “during the month of June” a member of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), the Managing Director of the euro area’s permanent rescue fund, Pierre Gramegna, said on Thursday 11 June in Luxembourg.
According to him, belonging to the ESM will constitute for Bulgaria the materialisation of “a sort of additional insurance that a country acquires by joining the euro area”.
Until January 2038, Bulgaria will benefit from a temporary correction of its contribution key to the ESM’s capital. This will result in an initial subscription of €5.2781 billion, including €603.21 million in paid-in capital to be paid in five annual instalments. From 2038, Bulgaria’ subscription will be a total amount of €8.6791 billion, including €991.9 million in paid-in capital.
On Thursday, the ESM Board of Governors, made up of euro area finance ministers, welcomed the record profits generated in 2025, amounting to €1.97 billion. These profits were transferred to the rescue fund’s reserve, which now stands at €7.25 billion.
Mr Gramegna said that the ESM had continued its work aimed at developing its capacity to deal with any type of crisis, notably by revising its precautionary instruments.
Because of the opposition of the Meloni government, Italy remains the only euro area country not to have ratified the ESM reform, which would allow it to play the role of backstop for the Single Resolution Fund, the financial arm of the banking union’s ‘resolution’ pillar in the euro area (see EUROPE 13203/7).
The President of the Eurogroup, Kyriákos Pierrakákis, described the failure to ratify that reform as a “missed opportunity” to give the ESM a major role.
See the European Stability Mechanism’s 2025 Annual Report: https://aeur.eu/f/may (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)