„The moment of entry into the eurozone is absolutely key and specifically GERB as the leading party, and Borisov have a historic chance or a chance of failure. If they succeed in getting Bulgaria into the eurozone, Borisov will go down in history, if they fail – they will fall out cruelly“, journalist Assen Grigorov said on „This Saturday“ on bTV, quoted by novini.bg.
„The stakes are huge for Borisov, I don't know if he himself is aware of this line specifically. If the moment for the euro is missed now, the pressure on Borisov for a budget or for demands from the various coalition partners and his party will become enormous“, Grigorov added.
In his words, if we do not enter the eurozone now, the deficit will probably not be 3% in the next budget. This opens a dam through which it is not known what will pass, the journalist said.
„Yesterday in the late afternoon, the final report of the Ministry of Finance on the budget deficit for 2024 on a cash basis was released – it is exactly 3%, i.e. the Ministry of Finance itself says that there is no gap. Now, however, based on the demands of coalition partners and commitments made by GERB, some kind of hole may appear, but everything is now entirely in the hands of those who are writing the budget at the moment“, added Asen Grigorov.
According to political scientist Hristo Panchugov, the budget is not the only criterion that we must meet in order to enter the eurozone.
“We need to get out of two things – from the feeling that the convergence report is the only thing that needs to happen, i.e. by asking for it and then – we enter the eurozone. This is not true. There must be a decision by the eurozone member states,” he said.
According to him, the big question on the agenda is in which direction the budget will go and what concessions will be requested.
„The battle for the BSP will certainly have an effect on the budget and the expectations of the various actors within the BSP, so there will probably be shocks. Whether they will prove to be big enough to shorten the life of this government – is difficult to assess. The big question is not so much related to whether there is a hole at this moment, but whether one will not open from now on, what the convergence report looks like not at this moment, but for the next budget period and whether this would really be beneficial“, the political scientist commented.
„I am afraid that what is being seen at the moment is trade. There are quite frankly ridiculous candidates in this battle - those with no chance. Apparently they are there to demonstrate some support, which will then be negotiated for the real chairman of the BSP“, said Hristo Panchugov.
“This BSP congress will be a big fair. What it will lead to - I don't know. The trends there have not been positive for a long time, they have hit it with some extremely conservative right-wing politics, there is nothing left, and at the moment nothing is seen as politics. It is seen that regularly in the National Assembly someone gets up and calls them “BSP-New Beginning“, supposedly a mistake, but maybe it is not entirely a mistake. There will be some underhanded factors there that will also play a role“, noted journalist Asen Grigorov.