BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Commission will publish a report in early June on whether Bulgaria is ready to adopt the European Union’s euro currency, European Economic Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said.
To switch from its lev currency to the euro, Bulgaria needs to meet EU criteria on low inflation, stable and sound public finances, a stable exchange rate and low long-term borrowing costs, as well as have an independent central bank.
To join the euro zone, which now has 20 out of the EU’s 27 countries, Bulgaria has to get a positive opinion that it meets the criteria from the European Commission and the European Central Bank in what is called a convergence report.
“The Commission and the ECB continue to work on the preparation of the convergence report and it is foreseen we will finalise this work in early June,” Dombrovskis told a press conference after a meeting of EU finance ministers.
(Reporting by Jan Strupczewski; Editing by Alex Richardson)
