,,We expect the coming year to enter the Eurozone waiting room, but this is a moving term that can last longer. Bulgaria has not yet applied for membership in the currency mechanism'', former Economy Minister Nikolay Vassilev said in the morning block of the Bulgarian National Television.

Nikolay Vassilev explained that the "eurozone waiting room" is a jargon that appeared about 20 years ago. The idea is that when countries did not have a very fixed exchange rate between themselves before entering the euro, they had a minimum of 2 years of preparatory period in which the exchange rates were expected, the interest rates to get closer. If everything is normal at the end of the 2-year period, they can enter the eurozone.

Nikolay Vassilev: There is no such case and problem for Bulgaria because we have a successful currency board for 22 years now, where we have a fixed exchange rate -  we are ready for the eurozone.
According to him, we expect to join the Eurozone waiting room in the coming year. 

The reasons for the delay, according to Vassilev, are that Europe has changed since the last crisis 10 years ago and Member States do not want any country to enter the eurozone.

Bulgaria needs every kind of modernization, public sector reforms. After 2007 no reform has happened quickly, Vassilev added. N

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