Bulgaria's path to the euro zone

BNT: Mr. Dombrovskis, the Eurogroup approved the strategy of Bulgaria to join the waiting room of the euro area and the banking union. (19659002) Valdis Dombrovskis, European Commissioner to the euro: Yes, indeed, last week the Eurogroup approved the Bulgarian strategy of membership in the exchange mechanism or in the room. waiting for the eurozone and joining the eurozone. banking union. And to do this, Bulgaria has taken a number of preventative commitments to stabilize the financial sector, but also with a wider range of topics such as money-laundering and anti-money-laundering policies. institutions. It is now very important for Bulgaria to respect these pre-commitments. As for the concrete measures, the next is a formal request to enter into close cooperation with the European Central Bank for participation in the joint control mechanism, which is a step towards joining the European Union. banking union. As far as I know, the Bulgarian authorities have a few days to submit this application

BNT: What is the role of the European Central Bank and the European Commission in this process

Valdis Dombrovskis: As reflected in the declaration of The Eurogroup, The Bank and the European Commission will monitor the implementation of the preliminary commitments – each in its area of ​​competence. As far as the supervision of the financial sector is concerned, this responsibility lies mainly with the ECB and, with regard to more general measures such as the fight against money laundering, falls within the competence of the European Commission

BNT : Availability

Valdis Dombrovskis, European Commissioner for the Euro: Neither the Eurogroup declaration nor the preliminary Bulgarian commitments state that Bulgaria should take the euro in charge of anti-corruption commitments . What we have stressed is that the EC will continue to monitor the fight against corruption through the mechanism of cooperation and verification, everything is within the framework of the already established procedures

BNT: the EC promises a help to Bulgaria. What exactly will this help mean?

Valdis Dombrovskis: The EC has instruments under the policy of deepening the economic and monetary union. The idea is to offer technical and somewhat financial badistance in implementing the necessary reforms on the road to the euro area. This instrument is reserved for countries that are making significant steps towards joining the euro area and Bulgaria is at the forefront in this regard.

BNT: You said that Bulgaria could be ready for the waiting room in a year. Are you optimistic that we will become a member of the mandate of this European Commission?

Valdis Dombrovskis: I think all the work can be done in a year. July 2019 is a realistic period, but of course there are two essential elements – the first is the badessment of the Bulgarian banking system and the second, as I said at the beginning, the fulfillment of Preliminary commitments made by Bulgaria

BNT: that the introduction of the euro will lead to an increase in life expectancy as a whole, rising bank loans. How do you respond to their fears?

Valdis Dombrovskis: First of all, the Bulgarian lev is linked to the euro for several years. From this point of view, there will be no significant change in the two interest rates – in terms of bank loans and interest on sovereign debt. In fact, they can even reduce. With regard to inflation, our experience shows that the impact on inflation during the introduction of the euro is very limited. We also have a mechanism that works well to reduce potential threats, to make sure that someone will not use the introduction of the euro as an excuse to raise prices. In this regard, the European Commission is ready to help Bulgaria share its know-how and good practices with the countries already members of the euro area