The European Commission confirmed that it is proposing the opening of an excessive deficit procedure against Bulgaria. European Commissioner for Economic Affairs Valdis Dombrovskis said this yesterday in Luxembourg after a meeting of EU finance ministers, BNT reports.
The European Commission announced the procedure on June 3 during the presentation of the European Semester for the EU countries. Dombrovskis reiterated yesterday that the Economic and Financial Committee must now give its opinion, and then the EU countries must take the final decision to open the procedure.
Valdis Dombrovskis, European Commissioner for Economic Affairs: "The European Commission has assessed the application of the deficit requirement by several member states and found that Bulgaria does not comply with it. Following the opinion of the Economic and Financial Committee, the Commission will propose to open an excessive deficit procedure for Bulgaria."
Bulgaria was the only country for which the EC proposed to open an excessive deficit procedure. Several other EU countries are already in such a procedure. It is applied when the deficit of a member state exceeds 3 percent of GDP or the government debt exceeds 60 percent of GDP and is not decreasing at a sufficiently fast pace. The country concerned is then given recommendations and deadlines to correct the deficit and debt. Failure to comply may result in stricter measures, including financial sanctions for eurozone countries.
The EC's forecast for Bulgaria's deficit for this year is 4.1 percent of GDP. Bulgarian Finance Minister Galab Donev predicts an even higher deficit - of 7 percent. In Luxembourg, Donev announced that the first technical talks with representatives of the European Commission have already been held. Better tax collection and the elimination of the shadow economy are some of the measures being discussed. Donev also announced the reduction and consolidation of the state administration, also related to the digitalization of services.