SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) - Bulgaria’s prime minister said Tuesday that his country still aims to adopt the euro by 2022 despite some opposition by some local businesses that fear greater scrutiny of the economy.
Speaking at a business forum in the capital, Boyko Borissov said that one of the big benefits of joining the euro is that the banking system would become more disciplined. As part of the euro, big banks in Bulgaria would be overseen by the European Central Bank, not national authorities that can sometimes be more lenient.
Addressing opponents of the plan, Borissov said: “We have to do what is right, whatever happens.”
European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis, who is in charge of the euro, welcomed the Balkan country’s plans to join the euro.
Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov voiced hope that the country would enter the EU banking union and the two-year process that leads to joining the euro this summer. That should allow the country to adopt the euro in January 2022, he said.
Bulgaria has since 1997 kept a stable exchange rate between its currency, the lev, and the euro.
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