site.btaBulgaria Can Join Euro Area if It Curbs Inflation: MEP Radan Kanev

There is no political problem for Bulgaria's membership in the euro area, but there is the issue of inflation. This is what Radan Kanev, MEP from the EPP Group, said in response to a question from BTA about Bulgaria’s accession to the currency union on January 1, 2025.

In his words, the issue is on a technical level. “Whether we can bring inflation down to the entry criteria and whether, if we do not, which is more likely, a compromise will be made in view of other factors: I am rather sceptical, I do not think that a special compromise will be made,” he said. 

According to Kanev, if nationalist parties have more weight after the European elections, this makes a compromise less likely for this country if it does not meet the membership criteria.

“We must make efforts to curb inflation and I am convinced that we will join the eurozone immediately afterwards, there will be no political obstacles,” he said.

He pointed out that the Schengen issue is more complicated. “We have to go through the elections in Austria, let's see how the debate in the Austrian society will go after them,” he said at a meeting with Bulgarian journalists in Strasbourg within the EP session, which takes place in the period February 5-8. Radan Kanev also commented that the upcoming Hungarian presidency in the second half of the year is a delicate moment, because then the proposal to open Schengen’s land borders for Bulgaria and Romania has to be discussed.

“Agriculture will be one of the top topics of the European elections, I expect it to be strongly advocated in Bulgaria,” Radan Kanev said, adding that the discussion on the topic of new genomic techniques is extremely polarizing.

In his view, the next European Parliament will keep its centrist majority, but will be more difficult to manage and will require a new level of leadership. However, the far right will be better represented and the reserve majority will come from there and not from the left, as is currently the case. The MEP expects a lower turnout at the European elections in Bulgaria compared to 2019, but not drastically.