Bulgaria and the Euro: What Happens to National Monetary Sovereignty?
One of the most debated topics around Bulgaria’s upcoming transition from the lev to the euro is whether the country is giving up its sovereignty
Bulgaria is a negative example in terms of economic development after its EU accession, Russia's Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev believes.
"After entering the EU in 2007, in 6 years unemployment has increased from 6.9% to 11.8%. Foreign investment has shrunk nine times within the same period (from EUR 9.051 B to EUR 1.092 B). And are these countries anyhow worse than Ukraine, for instance [they are] comparable in terms of development and natural and climate conditions," Medvedev wrote in an article (titled Ukraine: Life under New Rules) for Russian daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta on Sunday.
Medvedev is referring to a few states in Eastern Europe that have become EU members over the past few years.
In his words, for Kiev "it is worth to have a look at the experience of its southwestern neighbors [i.e. Bulgaria and other countries from Southeast Europe] which entered into the EU after all. It should assess what has changed in their economies, if their GDP has subsequently increased, how the population's income has grown or dipped and what unemployment dynamics are. And most of all, if much foreign investment has flowed into them," Medvedev argues.
Russia's top officials have been lambasting at Bulgaria for a couple of weeks over its decision not to unblock construction of the South Stream gas pipeline, a stance which subsequently led the project to its demise.
Brazen Bulgarian gangs "terrorise the elderly and rob them over their life savings with increasingly aggressive phone scams nettling millions of euros," according to an AFP story.
The prospect of US President Donald Trump's moving closer to Russia has scrambled the strategy of "balancing East and West" used for decades by countries like Bulgaria, the New York Times says.
Bulgarians have benefited a lot from their EU membership, with incomes rising and Brussels overseeing politicians, according to a New York Times piece.
German businesses prefer to trade with Bulgaria rather than invest into the country, an article on DW Bulgaria's website argues.
The truth about Bulgaria and Moldova's presidential elections is "more complicated" and should not be reduced to pro-Russian candidates winning, the Economist says.
President-elect Rumen Radev "struck a chord with voters by attacking the status quo and stressing issues like national security and migration," AFP agency writes after the presidential vote on Sunday.
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