Bulgarian PM discusses country’s euro zone accession with ECB, Eurogroup heads

Sofia: Bulgarian Prime Minister Rossen Zhelyazkov held talks on March 20 in Brussels with European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde and Eurogroup head Paschal Donohoe on the importance of euro zone membership for Bulgaria, a government statement said.

The talks took place as EU leaders were in the Belgian capital for a meeting of the European Council.

On February 25, Zhelyazkov said that Bulgaria had formally asked the European Commission and ECB to assess the country’s readiness to join the euro area.

The March 20 government statement said that Zhelyazkov briefed Lagarde and Donohoe on the Budget procedure currently underway in the Bulgarian Parliament.

Zhelyazkov also emphasised the compliance of the draft State Budget Law for 2025 with the medium-term fiscal and structural plan, the statement said.

“Bulgaria submitted a request for an extraordinary convergence report in February this year, when it met the Maastricht criteria for membership in the euro zone,” he said.

“I hope that the efforts of Bulgarian society in recent decades to observe fiscal discipline and balanced budgets will yield the expected result,” Zhelyazkov said.

On March 12, in a report to European Council President António Costa on the recent work by the Eurogroup and upcoming work priorities, Donohoe said: “We support Bulgaria’s efforts to adopt the euro, based on the agreed criteria, which will be evaluated by the institutions this spring.

“We commend Bulgaria’s commitment and encourage further steps to ensure sustainable convergence,” Donohoe said.