„We received information from reliable sources that the National Statistical Institute is preparing serious manipulation of inflation data for the month of September. According to the NSI calendar, the September inflation data should be published on October 15. Meanwhile, NSI will send the same data to Eurostat”, Kostadin Kostadinov told citizens yesterday during his pre-election tour of the country.
He added that they will soon begin to suggest to us that prices in our country are falling. “Not that there will be a single Bulgarian citizen who will believe this,” added Kostadinov.
Such actions, according to him, fit into a Euro-Atlantic tradition – when there is a problem with the euro, any means are allowed. As proof, he pointed to the confession of the former president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, in an interview with the BBC during the Greek crisis: “When things get serious, you have to know how to lie” (quoted from: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28317790).
“The NSI's behavior is particularly arrogant now, because just days ago, a special check by Eurostat was conducted in the NSI precisely on the question of the reliability of the Bulgarian inflation data. In addition to NSI representatives, representatives from the Bulgarian National Bank and the Ministry of Finance were also called to the meetings with Eurostat. Unfortunately, NSI refused to publish full information about the results of the inspection and the recommendations they received from Eurostat. Instead of an honest and open approach, the NSI published a short and veiled message, Kostadinov added, showing the citizens the information published by the NSI (quoted from: www.nsi.bg/bg/content/21749/misia-na-evrostat-proveri- nsi-inflation-data).
“And now, barely waiting for the examiners from Eurostat to leave, NSI has harnessed new forces to “fix“ of inflation data. Why is there all this haste and the desperate actions of the Bulgarian institutions? The goal is more than clear – Bulgaria should show its European partners that it allegedly fulfills the Maastricht criterion for inflation, which would open the way for the destruction of the Bulgarian lev, the abolition of the currency board and the introduction of the euro. This happens despite the reluctance of the Bulgarian public, which can be seen in every sociological survey on the subject, and is most definitely demonstrated by the will of over 604 thousand Bulgarians who signed up for a referendum to preserve the Bulgarian lev – a referendum brutally denied to the Bulgarian people by the Euro-Atlantic ruling majority and the institutions they took over.
Despite numerous expert analyzes that prove the negative consequences for the Bulgarian economy of the premature introduction of the euro, the European Central Bank and the European Commission came out with categorical reports that the Bulgarian economy is not ready for the euro. For example, the ECB report clearly states: “There are concerns about the long-term sustainability of inflation convergence in Bulgaria. The catch-up process will likely lead to a positive inflation differential compared to the eurozone, as GDP per capita and price levels in Bulgaria are still significantly below those in the eurozone, Kostadinov also said.