“Bulgaria will not become part of the Eurozone from January 1, 2025, and I believe that there are no naive people left who think that this date is possible. This was also confirmed by the governor of the BNB, and the reasons are basically two – one is inflation – Bulgaria does not meet the Maastricht criteria, in terms of inflation. The other reason is also very interesting and was well developed by the authoritative magazine Politico, in which, after a thorough analysis, the lack of public support for Bulgaria’s accession to the Eurozone was indicated as a reason,” said the economic advisor of the group of ” Revival” in the Capital Municipal Council (SOC), Deyan Nikolov.
He also pointed out that this is exactly what over 604,000 Bulgarians who took part in the “Vazrazhdane” signature for convening a referendum on preserving the Bulgarian lev have shown with their signatures. The lack of public consensus has worried the European institutions and thanks to the efforts of “Vazrazhdane” it is clear that Bulgaria will not enter the Eurozone on 01.01.2025. According to Nikolov, the attempt to falsify statistical data, regarding the economic criteria for accession, in order to manipulate public opinion, is extremely worrying.
“We have information about attempts to distort data and statistics by putting pressure on NSI. We initiated a hearing in the National Assembly, held a meeting afterwards, where we insisted on full transparency and requested a number of documents in order to succeed, together with our experts, in ensuring the transparent calculation of all data. We have asked Eurostat to come and check the work of the NSI, because people like Asen Vasiliev tried to wait for a time window during which, through pressure, they could artificially lower inflation”, commented Deyan Nikolov from “Vazrazhdane”. .
He added that the ECB’s regular convergence report is coming in June, which will show that Bulgaria does not meet the criteria. According to Nikolov, the Euro-Atlantic parties will try to bring Bulgaria into the Eurozone in the middle of next year, but this will be against the rules – no country has joined at that time, and such an act will bring with it many technical and accounting problems and disorders. Another fundamental and structural problem preventing Bulgaria from joining the Eurozone is the budget deficit, which grew excessively after the mismanagement of the former finance minister.
As a consequence of the exported data and collected information, it is clear that the Bulgarian state does not meet the criteria for economic convergence, set and required, according to the Maastricht rules. It also becomes clear that everything that “Vazrazhdane” warned about, regarding the short-sighted decision to join the Eurozone and the economic risks that this action will cause, is confirmed, even by the ECB itself.
“Bulgaria is not ready to join the Eurozone – due to technical, economic and political reasons”, Nikolov was categorical.
