RESULTS FROM THE PRESIDENT’s FINANCIAL CONSULTATIONS

In the official statement after 4 and a half hours of the financial consultations on 14th of July, President Rosen Plevneliev said that Bulgaria would immediately initiate a procedure to join the European Union’s Single Supervisory Mechanism of the European Central Bank. He said it would be the first step towards joining the European Banking Union.

During the consultations at the President’s office, the parliamentary parties and institutions reached agreement on updating the state budget and the budget of the National Health Insurance Fund and to set the debt ceiling. No consensus was reached on whether to pass a special law regarding the case with the Corporate Commercial Bank. An international audit of CCB will be requested and an assessment of the Bulgarian banks by the European Banking Authority. The international audit of CCB may delay the opening of the bank on 21st of July, as previously promised by BNB.

The President emphasized that the whole power of the state would be targeted to punish those responsible for the perpetrated crimes, to the fullest extent of the law. The Bulgarian Prosecutor’s Office and law enforcement agencies would act firmly and use all mechanisms of international legal cooperation to identify all related persons and offshore companies, to which loans were granted in contravention of the regulations, if there are such – everyone, from the first to the last, and of course, to the final owner.

BNB is to request a check by the European Banking Authority to evaluate the effectiveness of the supervision over the Bulgarian banks, the President said, and added that a legislative initiative would be provided to improve the effectiveness of banking supervision and clarify who would bear the responsibility.