Valdis Dombrovskis is a Latvian politician. Since November 2014, he has been European Commissioner for the Euro and Social Dialogue in the “Juncker“ Commission, and since July 2016, he has also held the post of European Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union.
Since 1 December 2019, he has been Executive Vice-President with responsibility for “Economy that works for people“ in the Commission “Von der Leyen“.
He gave an interview to bTV:
The most anticipated question is whether the initiative of the President of Bulgaria to ask the National Assembly to initiate a referendum affects the conclusions in the upcoming report on Bulgaria's convergence before the final step towards the eurozone?
I cannot comment on domestic political events, but we had a conversation on this topic on the sidelines of the Council with Finance Minister Petkova. I met with her together with the President of the European Central Bank and the President of the Eurogroup to discuss this very topic. The message from the Minister was very clear – The Bulgarian authorities, that is, the Bulgarian government and the Bulgarian National Bank, maintain their request for a convergence report, which means that on the part of the European Commission and the European Central Bank we will continue to work on this report and plan to finalize it in early June without any delay.
Have you warned the Bulgarian authorities on behalf of the European Commission or the European Central Bank that this situation raises doubts about Bulgaria's readiness to join the euro area from 1 January 2026?
Of course, it is important to monitor the political developments regarding joining the euro. But there is a commitment on the part of the Bulgarian authorities - the government and the National Bank are very clear, and also the practical cooperation continues and is progressing in this direction. So on the part of the European Commission we continue our work as planned.
What would you say to all these Bulgarians – different people who are afraid of the euro and its adoption in Bulgaria? I am sure that there has been a similar discussion in your country, so what is your address to them?
Exactly. We faced a similar situation and concerns when Latvia was joining the eurozone, and I was heavily involved as the head of government in the preparation and in the final accession of Latvia. Our experience has shown that this greatly helped the resilience and stability of the economy and finances in the subsequent shocks associated with the economic shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia's aggressive war against Ukraine. This really helped the resilience of the economy. And secondly, in Latvia there was a similar situation as in Bulgaria - the exchange rate was fixed to the euro, which means that the ECB's monetary policy was already applied, but without the benefits of the euro itself.
Joining the euro will also give you the practical benefits - better sustainability, lower currency transaction costs, lower interest rates – all those advantages that come with joining the eurozone. And if you look at the development of public support in Latvia and in the eurozone countries in general, you will see that after joining it, public support increases significantly, because many of the concerns before adopting the euro do not materialize and people start to appreciate the practical benefits.
Are you optimistic about Bulgaria joining the eurozone next year?
I am moderately optimistic. Last year, Bulgaria fulfilled three of the four convergence criteria. The main issue remains the inflation criterion, which is on the verge and we need to see the official data that will come out before we can finalize the convergence report and draw a definitive conclusion.