Major political parties in Bulgaria have reached a consensus to include this country in the EU Banking Union. The decision came after urgent consultations with President Rosen Plevneliev on Monday, dedicated to the financial situation in the country and the latest crisis in the fourth largest bank in Bulgaria - the Corporate Commercial Bank. The situation brings unpredictable consequences at the backdrop of political and institutional crisis of confidence and the upcoming early parliamentary elections. Participants shared the view that public confidence in the banking system is essential for the financial stability and functioning of the economy.

They also agreed on a package of various measures. According to the head of state the positive news is that:

"We have a consensus for starting a procedure for Bulgaria becoming part of the Single Supervisory Mechanism of the ECB. This is the first step towards the accession of Bulgaria into the European Banking Union. Citizens should be calm that Bulgaria will continue to integrate quickly in the most modern European mechanisms."

The representatives of the three powers in Bulgaria have also reached an agreement regarding the bankrupt Corporate Commercial Bank.

"Bank deposits of up to 100,000 euro in Bulgaria are guaranteed by law. This applies to all clients of CCB. The Deposit Guarantee Fund and the government have enough resources to fulfill their commitments. Furthermore, all the power of the state will be targeted towards those responsible for the situation through their criminal activities. Bulgarian prosecutors and law enforcement authorities will act firmly and mechanisms of international legal cooperation will be used to detect any related parties and offshore companies that received loans in violation of the regulations. We also agreed on the idea for international audit of the bank in order top to disclose assets purchased with these loans. This way we can take action to recover the debts to the budget and the Deposit Guarantee Fund. Anyone who violated the law, this time, unlike the crisis in 1996, will bear the responsibility. The Bulgarian National Bank will require an inspection by the European Banking Authority to assess the effectiveness of supervision of Bulgarian banks. There is also a legislative initiative to improve the effectiveness of banking supervision. The procedure should be initiated by the central bank and addressed to the European Banking Authority and we all agreed to start the process and complete it."

During the consultations on Monday consensus was reached on updating the national budget as well as the budget of the National Health Insurance Fund. This will ensure proper functioning of the system in the period when the parliament will not be working after its dissolution on August 6 this year until the day of the elections. The Government of Plamen Oresharski is expected in the coming days to initiate and adopt amendments to the state budget in order to ensure a slow transition to a caretaker government President Plevneliev added:

"This is to allow for a little more flexibility in deficit; it will rise to 3%, and government debt will rise within reasonable limits. This is yet to be discussed in the National Assembly. The caretaker government should be allowed to sign agreements for government loans, according to the Bulgarian Constitution in order to take other necessary measures to ensure the necessary resources needed to support the financial stability of the state."
 
The Bulgarian head of state pointed out resources were also needed to absorb financing under operational programs for 2007-2013, especially in supporting municipalities with national co-financing.

No consensus, however, was reached on the proposal of the BNB for a special law on the case with CCB in order to guarantee deposits bigger than 100,000 euro. Discussions on the topic will continue. The Bulgarian Socialist Party says it needs full and accurate analysis of the situation in CCB while opposition GERB party says such depositors should prove the legal source of their money.

After consultations on Monday it became clear that Prime Minister Oresharski was given green light to discuss the application for Bulgarian EU Commissioner for the next five years with the new head of the EU Council on Wednesday.

Prior to consultations with President Plevneliev in Sofia, Jean-Claude Juncker, nominated as head of the European Commission, insisted before the current Bulgarian Prime Minister that current EU Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva should be nominated for High Representative of the European Union The position is currently held by Catherine Ashton.

English: Alexander Markov