
The political dispute over Bulgaria’s accession to the eurozone is deepening. The co-chair of “We Continue the Change” and former finance minister Assen Vassilev accused GERB of deliberately sabotaging the process, using the budget deficit as an argument.
“GERB are looking for an excuse not to join the eurozone”, Vassilev told journalists at the National Assembly.
According to the former finance minister, GERB is trying to shift the blame for the lack of progress to the budget deficit instead of acknowledging the problems in the ruling coalition.
“I understand that they have a problem with their coalition partners, but let them admit that and not make excuses about the deficit”, he said. Vassilev stressed that the dispute over the alleged 18 billion leva deficit will continue as long as GERB is in a complicated political situation. He added:
“GERB will try to find excuses in all sorts of ways as long as they are threatened that the government will fall.”
On 24 January, Delyan Dobrev of GERB-SDU said from the parliamentary rostrum that there was an 18 billion leva „hole“ in the budget. This provoked a strong reaction from the “We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria”, which accused GERB and “There is Such a people” of deliberately sabotaging the adoption of the euro. For his part, Vassilev rejected Dobrev’s claim, saying:
“What is being circulated is a dramatic lie – there is not a single document that says 18 billion leva.”
He stressed that last year’s budget was implemented exactly with the deficit that had been set, and these figures will be officially verified by Eurostat. Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry also questioned the accuracy of the data presented by Vassilev.
“Assen Vassilev made an inaccuracy in the handling of the budget revenue data for the first quarter”, the department said.
This has further deepened the political confrontation between different camps on the issue of the country’s financial situation. Finance Minister Temenuzhka Petkova confirmed that Bulgaria’s accession to the eurozone remains a top priority and the government will continue working in this direction.
However, ongoing political disagreements and economic disputes call into question whether the country will meet the criteria on time and whether the necessary political consensus will be reached. Disagreements over the country’s actual financial situation and commitment to the euro area remain a major issue on the political agenda.