A special timepiece will be installed in downtown Sofia next week to count the remaining days until European Union (EU) entry.
The facility will have almost 700 days to count, as Bulgaria hopes to join the bloc in the beginning of 2007. Before that, the country should sign a common accession treaty with its neighbour on the north, Romania.
An inauguration ceremony for the clock will take place in the center of Sofia on March 1, probably bringing together Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg, the mayor of the city, Stefan Sofianski, EU ambassadors and representatives of the banking sector.
It was the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) that initiated the construction of the EU timepiece.