Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev: Bulgaria to request extraordinary Convergence Reports as soon as inflation criterion is met

Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev: Bulgaria to request extraordinary Convergence Reports as soon as inflation criterion is met

16.10.2024

The European Commission and the European Central Bank will be approached with a request for extraordinary Convergence Reports once Bulgaria meets the last criterion - that of price stability. Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev made this statement for media in Brussels vis-à-vis Bulgaria's membership in the Eurozone.

According to this year's Convergence Reports, Bulgaria meets three of the four criteria for membership, viz.: public finance stability (balanced budget and sovereign debt), exchange rate and long-term interest rate. Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev announced his expectation that the fourth criterion of price stability would be met by the end of the year as the National Statistical Institute data from August confirm the tendency to slow down the rate of inflation in the country. It is the satisfaction of the last criterion that will be a precondition for Bulgaria to request the production of extraordinary Convergence Reports on the basis of which it would be possible to fix a date for Bulgaria to join the Eurozone as soon as possible.

All Bulgarian institutions are doing their utmost to release the two hostages. We make daily efforts to that effect, the situation is specific and delicate, Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev said as he answered a reporter's question about the Bulgarian sailors in captivity in Yemen.

Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev is in Brussels where he attended today the first-ever summit between the European Union and the Gulf Cooperation Council. The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf is a regional organization comprising Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The main items on the agenda to be discussed at the meeting will be as follows: response to common key global challenges, economic cooperation, including trade and investment, energy, climate change.

Asked by the media about action taken in Bulgaria against the vote buying and the corporate vote, Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev said firmly that the Ministry of Interior responds to any whistle blow within the scope of its powers, jointly with the prosecutor's offices and takes measures. These operations will continue until the close of the Election Day. Mr. Glavchev gave this assurance regarding the caretaker government's pledge to guarantee fair and transparent elections.