Bulgaria to ask for extraordinary convergence report from Brussels over eurozone

Bulgaria will request an extraordinary convergence report from the European Commission in September to show that it has met the conditions for joining the euro area, Finance Minister, Assen Vassilev, told journalists on January 30. In his words, the goal is for the country to adopt the European currency as early as next January.

"I believe that we will meet the criteria in terms of inflation as early as June," the minister said. In his words, it is illogical to talk about postponing the entry into the euro area to the middle of next year, because such a thing has not been done so far.

The country has already started talks with Brussels for a possible extraordinary convergence report if we fail to meet the conditions by the summer. This year, the European Commission will present the report late because of the European elections and instead of May, it is expected to be released in June.

In order to become part of the euro area, Bulgaria must have met five main criteria. Inflation must not be 1.5 percentage points higher than the three countries with the best indicator; the budget deficit to be within 3 % of GDP and the debt within 60 %; the currency should be stable against the euro over the past two years, and there should be no major deviations in the long-term interest rate. So far, all requirements except inflation have been met.