The finance ministers of the eurozone countries will listen to their Bulgarian counterpart Temenuzhka Petkova in Brussels this afternoon. Petkova herself has asked to provide up-to-date information on the progress in fulfilling the criteria for Bulgaria's admission to the eurozone. It is not yet clear when Bulgaria will submit a request for the preparation of extraordinary convergence reports by the EC and the EBC. The reports are a key step on the path to adopting the euro. However, the Bulgarian government declared that it has not backed down from the goal of the country adopting the single European currency on January 1, 2026.
This was recalled by BNT.
The latest regular convergence reports of the EC and the ECB showed that Bulgaria has not yet met the price stability criterion - one of the four numerical criteria for admission to the eurozone. The requirement is that inflation in the country should not exceed by 1.5 percentage points the inflation in the three countries with the best results in the EU. Eurostat is expected to announce the data for the EU on February 24. Then it will become clear whether Bulgaria meets the price stability criterion.
It is not clear exactly what information Temenuzhka Petkova will present in Brussels. On Friday, the Ministry of Finance postponed the submission of the new draft law on the state budget for 2025. Petkova announced that the postponement is necessary because the ministry needs a few more days to prepare the structural-fiscal plan for the next three years, which must be sent to the EC by February 28.