It seems Bulgaria is among the best placed candidates for introducing the euro. The country is obliged to do so under its agreement for membership in the European Union. On the other hand, the Bulgarian currency is currently pegged to the euro and in practice 1 euro always equals 2 Bulgarian levs. This is a kind of engagement between the two sides, which usually occurs only in the presence of warm feelings between future newlyweds, who promise to wait a little until the official marriage.
Yes, but in the case of Bulgaria and the euro, the couple have become quite wrinkled and much has been lost of the initial passion and mutual commitment.
The reasons are various and both sides have their faults. Bulgaria has not been observing so strictly the Maastricht requirements for public debt, budget deficit and inflation and remains a country with relatively underdeveloped monetary and financial markets. Its positions on world markets are weak and hesitant.
The euro has suffered quite a hit from the global financial crisis and the Greek crisis. The recovery of the euro area has not been very convincing and problems remain and turn chronic in nature. In this situation neither the euro is a priority for Bulgaria, nor is the euro zone keen on attracting more members who come with their own problems. This is actually what the European Central Bank has shown, as it recently announced that none of the seven candidate countries for the euro was ready and fully met all requirements. That certainly is true technically, but we can assume that many of the euro zone members no longer meet these criteria, too. That means the problem is not just technical and related to the banking sector, but rather political. Bulgaria realizes that it is not currently wanted in the euro area and that is why not much effort is paid to meet the criteria. Bulgarian politicians remember the lessons of Schengen, when despite meeting all criteria the country was not allowed to join the area of free movement because of purely political reasons. The case with the euro is similar. That is why the Bulgarian policy at the moment in terms of the common currency is "hurry slowly." There are some governmental plans to enter the European exchange mechanism, but nothing too urgent.English: Alexander Markov
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