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The EC building in Brussels. File Photo
The European Commission had not reevaluated its assessment of the Convergence Program submitted by the Bulgarian government, according to Amadeu Altafaj, spokesperson of Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, Ollie Rehn.
In the beginning of April, the cabinet corrected the program to reflect the change in the budget deficit from 1.9% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to 3.7% of GDP.
According to Altafaj, cited by the Bulgarian National Radio, BNR, the EC had not changed its opinion about the Bulgarian program despite the April amendment. The Commission issued their assessment of the program as “adequate” on March 17 and praised Bulgaria for being, along with Estonia, the only EU member maintaining a deficit below 3%, as the EU rules require.
Rehn's spokesperson pointed out the EC is aware of the correction in the Bulgarian budget deficit, but will analyze it only after Eurostat, the Commission's statistical office, publishes its EU Member States' budget data this Thursday.
"The ECOFIN meeting was informal and at such forum decisions about changing the convergence programs' assessment cannot be made," Altafaj said, adding he could not comment on reports about unofficial meetings between Djankov and Rehn in Madrid.
The spokesperson further reminded that the final assessment does not depend on the EC but on ECOFIN, whose official summit is scheduled for May 18 in Brussels. Until then the EC would have presented its spring economic forecast, assessing the trends in the Member States' budget deficits. Based on this forecast, and the ECOFIN evaluation, the EC will decide if they should launch a procedure against Bulgaria over its deficit above 3%.
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