site.btaPresident Hopes Bulgaria to Be in Eurozone 'Waiting Room' by Mid-2018

President Hopes Bulgaria to Be in Eurozone 'Waiting Room' by Mid-2018

Sofia, December 18 (BTA) - "I hope that by the second half of 2018, when Bulgaria will hold the Presidency of the EU Council for the first time, we will be able to announce our accession to ERM II, the transitional mechanism to joining the single European currency zone. The institutions must put this target on their agenda, and I hope that Bulgaria will have completed the process by that time," Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev said here on Friday, quoted by his Press Secretariat.

The head of State spoke at a meeting with members of the Cambridge University Bulgarian Society (CantaBulgarian), who called on him to exchange views on issues on the European and international agenda, on Bulgaria's economic development, and on the opportunities for young Bulgarians abroad to find a career at home.

Reforms in the key sectors, the implementation of the National Development Programme Bulgaria 2020, European integration, the refugee crisis and the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East were raised, among other questions, by CantaBulgarian members during the discussion with the President.

"Justice is one of the most critical spheres that is linked to citizens' sense of fairness," Plevneliev pointed out. He hopes that the judicial reform will make tangible progress with the new Justice Minister. The President singled out energy and health care as other critical sectors, where the high level of debts remains a serious problem.

The head of State warned that the global economic crisis has not yet ended, and poverty is still a serious challenge.

The President expressed satisfaction with the results of the year's last European Council meeting in Brussels and said that Bulgaria has a strong case to insist on a fair sharing of the migrant wave among the EU Member States.