President Radev to EC Executive Vice President Dombrovskis: Caretaker Cabinet Curbed All Major Pro-Inflationary Factors

Jerusalem, 23 February, 2023 (TPS) -- SOFIA, 23.02.2023 (BTA)
In his opening remarks before meeting with European Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis, Bulgarian President Rumen Radev Thursday said the caretaker government had managed to curb all the major pro-inflationary factors. Dombrovskis, who is responsible for An Economy that Works for People, is paying a visit to Bulgaria.

Radev said this country has some of the lowest natural gas prices and guaranteed deliveries through tenders for long-term supply by various companies, a completed interconnector with Greece, gas supplies from Azerbaijan at very attractive prices and guaranteed access to the LNG terminals of Greece and Turkiye.

“Bulgaria has the EU’s lowest petrol and diesel prices, a strong energy sector which guarantees predictability and support to businesses and all non-household customers. This makes long-term planning possible. All this has helped break the inflationary trend and I am confident that inflation will keep falling at a good pace,” Radev said.

“I expect the parliament we will elect on April 2 to adopt the laws that are needed,” Radev added.

He said he is convinced that Bulgaria’s membership of the euro area will bring significant benefits for the economy, but it is no less important to convince the Bulgarian citizens of this.

In his opening remarks, the President said that in historical, geographical and cultural terms, Bulgaria has always been an integral part of Europe. He pointed out that Bulgaria’s investments and trade are done overwhelmingly with Eurozone and EU countries.

Euro area and Schengen membership is a strategic goal for Bulgaria and its achievement will be a logical and deserved conclusion of the integration processes, Radev said.

He thanked Dombrovskis and the European Commission for their support for the caretaker government, which, in Radev’s words, has managed to achieve the greatest progress on the path to the euro area.

“We are fully aware of the obstacles on the path to membership – these are inflation and the laws that are yet to be adopted,” he added.

Radev said he expects the executive to devise and deploy measures and models that will lead to minimizing the risk of price increases in the transition period, raise the Bulgarians’ living standards, preserve the competitiveness of the economy and create an even better environment for its development.

Later on, Dombrovskis is meeting with Prime Minister Galab Donev and ministers.