Is Bulgaria's Budget Just an Excuse for Failed Eurozone Bid?
Bulgaria’s draft budget for 2024 raises questions about its realism and whether it is a mere strategy to appease the European Commission and the European Central Bank
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker “is believed to be set on ensuring” that the euro is introduced in the EU member states still using their own national currencies in a bid to spur European integration after Britons voted to leave the 28-nation bloc, according to UK’s Daily Express.
Besides the United Kingdom, eight other EU member states haven't adopted the euro – Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Sweden.
Daily Express has also said that according to German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, “there are plans underfoot to accelerate the "completion" of the monetary union.”
Bulgaria operates a fixed exchange rate mechanism called currency board, which curbs the conduct of independent monetary policy by the country's central bank and the pegs the national currency, the lev, at 1.95583 per euro.
Last year, Bulgaria’s government set up a council to propose a date for adopting the euro and draft a plan for introducing the single currency. The lev is not yet within the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM II), the euro's 'waiting room'.
Parvomay Municipality in Bulgaria has become one of the first to prepare for the country’s euro adoption
Professor Steve Hanke, who established Bulgaria’s currency board, emphasized that the country should maintain the current system, as it continues to work effectively
Bulgaria has the lowest minimum wage among the European Union member states as of January 2025, standing at 551 euros
Since being created as a joke cryptocurrency , Dogecoin has become a popular cryptocurrency with an active community of developers, traders, and investors.
Economists have urged Bulgaria’s leadership to submit an application to the European Commission and the European Central Bank for an extraordinary convergence report on joining the eurozone
Representatives of Bulgaria’s ruling coalition have once again highlighted a significant deficit in the state budget, with Stanislav Balabanov from "There Is Such a People" (TISP) stating that 2025 will be a transitional year regarding the eurozone
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