Bulgaria Restarts Eurozone Accession Talks
Friday, 16 January 2015
Bulgaria’s government is starting talks with the governments of the 19 eurozone countries on joining the eurozone, according to Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov.
Goranov visited Vilnius Thursday on the occasion of the Lithuania's eurozone accession and the abolition of the local currency, the Lithuanian litas (LTL).
As of midnight on January 15, payments in Lithuania, the 19th member of the euro area, must only be made in euro.
“There is political consensus on the need to adopt the euro as soon as possible,” Goranov said, as cited by the 24 Hours daily.
He did not specify deadlines for Bulgaria’s entry into the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM II), seen as the euro zone waiting room, and the subsequent adoption of the euro as the official currency.
Goranov argued that it was possible to join ERM II by 2018, when the term in office of the current government was set to expire.
He suggested that Bulgaria would ask the 19 euro-area countries for a road map of the commitments and the reforms which Bulgaria had to implement in order to join ERM II.