Bulgaria at Euromoney Conference for Central and Eastern Europe

In 2015 Bulgaria hopes to know what structural measures are needed to allow it into the euro zone and see what is a feasible time horizon for joining the banking 

union as a first step in the integration of this country in the institutional structures of the European Monetary Union, UniCredit Bulbank chief economist Kristofor Pavlov told the Bulgarian press on the sidelines of the annual Euromoney conference for Central and Eastern Europe. The forum is held in Vienna January 20-21. 

In his remarks at the forum, Pavlov presented the trends and upcoming changes in the banking sector in Bulgaria in 2015 stressing that such changes will have to be an answer to the the crisis in the banking sector last summer and to make sure that it will not happen again. More changes are set out in the plan of reforms in the global financial system agreed by the G20 countries and the Global Stability Board, aiming to make the financial system more secure, more simple, transparent and just.

Dwelling on Bulgaria's entry in the euro zone, Pavlov said that what is clear today is that the progress is pegged on making headway in the combat against corruption and organized crime, achieving the EU standards for functioning of the judicial system and rule of law, and, last but not least, successful exit from the current Cooperation and Verification Mechanism whereby the European Commission monitors Bulgaria's progress in fighting graft and organized crime.