Bulgaria will not ask for a convergent report this month that would show its readiness to enter the Eurozone. The deadline for which the country sought to adopt the euro - January 1, 2024 - is also canceled.

This was announced by the Minister of Finance Rositsa Velkova

At the meeting of the Eurogroup at the beginning of the week, Bulgaria was not heard about its readiness, although the item was on the agenda. The reason is that Bulgaria is lagging behind with the adoption of the relevant legislation, and also does not meet the criterion for inflation. Within the Eurogroup, it has been agreed that Bulgaria should strive for the new date - no later than January 1, 2025, but there is no legal obstacle for the adoption to be at the beginning of the year, but from another date, explained the minister. She pointed out that this could also happen on Easter next year (2024).

Therefore, Bulgaria will also request a report on its progress at the moment when it has fulfilled its commitments made upon entering the so-called waiting room of the Eurozone. This means there will be no waiting for a regular report.

The postponement of the deadline will definitely have a negative impact on the interest rates when taking on new government debt and on the country's credit rating, if a new progress report is not requested, which would give a prospect for entering the Eurozone, commented Velkova.

What is the problem?

At the moment, Bulgaria does not meet the inflation criterion, which stipulates that the candidate country has price stability and that the average rate of inflation for a period of one year before the review of the results does not exceed by more than 1.5% the rate that exists the most in three Member States with the lowest inflation. Bulgaria needs several months to fulfill this criterion, announced the minister. She indicated that she expects a result from the actions of the Commission for Protection of Competition.

The more important problem, however, is that several laws, the drafts of which the caretaker government submitted in October and December to the National Assembly, have not been adopted. These include changes to the Commercial Bankruptcy Act, to the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB), to the Insurance Code and to the Anti-Money Laundering Measures Act. All three projects - without the one for BNB - were only accepted at first reading by the already dissolved National Assembly. The viewing of the second reading of the draft of the Insurance Code in the economic committee failed particularly demonstrably.

For it, between the first and second reading, alternative changes to those proposed by the Ministry of Finance were introduced, prepared by the Union for Economic Initiative of Citizens, whose executive director is the former beret Aleksey Petrov of the Specialized Counter-Terrorism Squad, where he served together with Zlatomir Ivanov - Zlatko the Beret. Petrov is one of the founders of "Lev Ins" in the 1990s and is named as its real owner.

The project is not accepted by the European Financial Supervisory Authority - EIOPA, because it prevents the introduction of common European practice. It stipulates that in case of damage to Bulgarian cars abroad, they must first be paid, and then disputed, if there is a reason for this. The insurer claims that there is a fraud scheme and has not paid claims for a long time.

Today, Velkova explained that she held a meeting with the organization, which is worried that if the text proposed by her department is accepted, it will lead to a large increase in the price of the mandatory "Civil Liability" insurance. At the meeting, a commitment was made and a text was considered that would accept the European rules, but also not lead to this increase in costs. If no compromise text is found, the ministry will submit its draft again when the next National Assembly starts working. Before that, it will be insisted that all three rejected projects be discussed as a matter of priority.

The question of the adoption of the euro was perceived as a political cause to fight against, by various parties, the most active in its speech and actions being Kostadin Kostadinov's pro-Russian party "Vazrazhdane". They were also the initiator of holding a referendum on the euro by collecting signatures for this purpose. Those gathering them at one of the checkpoints got into a conflict with journalists who were making a report. There is also a group on social media supporting such a referendum, with daily posts spreading often false claims related to the euro.

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/Dnevnik

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