site.bta Bulgaria's ERM II Accession Requires Political Will from the Large EU Countries - Finance Minister Goranov

Bulgaria's ERM II Accession Requires Political Will from the Large EU Countries - Finance Minister Goranov

Sofia, December 2 (BTA) - Bulgaria's accession to the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) II requires political will from the large EU Member States, said Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov here on Friday in Parliament.

He was responding to a question by Reformist Bloc MPs Martin Dimitrov and Peter Slavov about Bulgaria's progress in joining the so called "Eurozone waiting room".

"We are ready to join Schengen, but we are not there yet. We have met the numeric criteria for joining the ERM II, but political support is needed as well," Goranov noted. Consultations regarding this have been held and support has been promised, he added. "I was supposed to be in Berlin on December 12 to meet with Germany's Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble, but I figured out that I do not have a long enough perspective to waste his time. We must convince our European partners that we can follow the rules," Minister Goranov said.

According to Goranov, joining the Eurozone is inevitable, but the lev to euro exchange rate must be maintained and Bulgaria must ask to join when it is ready, so that it is not turned down, as has happened in the past on many occasions.