site.btaUPDATED Finance Minister, Central Bank Governor Request Ad Hoc Convergence Reports from European Commission, ECB

Bulgarian Finance Minister Temenuzhka Petkova and Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) Governor Dimitar Radev on Monday signed a joint letter to European Commission (EC) President Ursula von der Leyen and European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde, Petkova's Ministry and the central bank said in a press release on Tuesday.

"Taking into account Bulgaria's determination to join the euro on January 1, 2026, and in accordance with Article 140, paragraph 1 of the TFEU [Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union], we would like to request the European Commission and the European Central Bank to prepare extraordinary Convergence reports on Bulgaria," the letter says.

"We thank the European Commission and the European Central Bank for their invaluable cooperation so far and we stand ready to provide any further information that is necessary to facilitate the assessment process," the letter concludes.

Article 140, paragraph 1 of the TFEU stipulates that, acting at the request of a Member State wishing to join the eurozone, the Commission and the ECB shall report to the Council of the EU on the progress made by such Member State in fulfilling its obligations regarding the achievement of economic and monetary union.

The letter was drafted and sent pursuant to a resolution passed by the Bulgarian National Assembly on July 26, 2024 on accelerating and completing the process of preparations for the adoption of the euro in Bulgaria, as well as in accordance with Council of Ministers Decision No. 92, which called for a request to be made to the EC and the ECB for the preparation of ad hoc convergence assessments on Bulgaria.

Decision No. 92 was approved at an extraordinary Cabinet meeting on February 24, 2025 on the basis of Eurostat's data on inflation measured by the Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices in the EU Member States for January 2025, which show that the reference value for the price stability criterion for entry in the eurozone is 2.53%. The inflation rate in Bulgaria was 2.6% in the same period and, considering that the figure is rounded in favour of the applicant country, this means that Bulgaria meets the last unfulfilled criterion for joining the euro area with its January data.

To meet the price stability criterion, an applicant country's average annual inflation must not exceed  the rate of inflation in the three EU Member States with the lowest inflation rates by more than 1.5 percentage points.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov commented to journalists on Tuesday morning that the convergence report will probably be ready in early June 2025. He pointed out that a number of steps have yet to be taken to show whether Bulgaria is ready for a euro changeover as from January 1, 2026, including a scrutiny by the EU Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN), the Eurogroup and the European Parliament.