EKIP against the Euro on national airwaves

As one of the few right-wing economists who are skeptical about Bulgaria's entry into the Eurozone, our editor-in-chief Georgi Vuldzhev and founder Stoyan Panchev have recently taken part in a number of television shows and debates on the topic.

On NOVA TV, Stoyan Panchev confronted former Deputy Minister of Finance Lyubomir Datsov. Although the prices of goods and services in the country will most likely not increase significantly after the adoption of the euro, Panchev shared that he is highly skeptical about the euro:

" I am a skeptic of the euro. And I am one of those people who think that right now we may be making a mistake . That we are leaving a good working system like the currency board for the euro, which admittedly has serious structural problems - I will give an example of Greece."

Panchev added that it is a better idea to wait and see what will potentially happen to the euro in the coming years and whether it will be reformed in a way that will eliminate the structural problems that the monetary union suffers from. But until that happens, we are in effect replacing the security and stability of the Currency Board with the uncertainty and many fiscal and banking risks that the structural problems of the eurozone bring with them.

His interlocutor, Lyubomir Datsov, expressed the opinion that the adoption of the euro would be mostly positive for Bulgaria. According to him, the introduction of the euro would have a number of positive effects on the lives of Bulgarians, although he warned that we should not build excessively positive expectations in advance.

Both economists agreed that fears of sharp inflation, which would impoverish the population, after adopting the euro are unfounded myths.

See more in the video.

That same weekend, our editor-in-chief Georgi Vuldzhev entered into a debate on the same topic with former Deputy Prime Minister Nikolay Vassilev on Bulgaria ON AIR. The main topic of the conversation was whether Bulgaria already meets the requirements for entering the eurozone and whether we should do so if we have the opportunity.

Nikolay Vassilev was categorical that Bulgaria should join the eurozone as soon as possible. However, the Deputy Prime Minister also shared that in view of the recent statements by Finance Minister Goranov and Prime Minister Borisov, he fears that once again the application for the monetary union will be postponed for an indefinite period.

For his part, Georgi Vuldzhev noted that in general we are fulfilling all the written requirements for entering the Eurozone, but the more reasonable decision is not to do so. Adopting the euro will rather make Bulgaria's financial system more insecure than more secure, although our banks will come under the supervision of the ECB. The key factor is the structural limitation of the Currency Board, which does not allow the government to monetize its debt and in practice use the central bank to finance irresponsible spending and deficits.

Furthermore, our banking system is currently safer because there is no lender of last resort to rely on in case they fail, which consequently makes them more careful in their activities and not take too many risks. In addition, our banks are currently almost certainly better capitalized than those in the Eurozone, because the bank reserve requirement in our country is 10%, while in the monetary union it is only 1%.

Nikolay Vassilev expressed his disagreement with these arguments, emphasizing the political importance of Bulgaria joining the Eurozone in order not to remain politically and economically marginalized within the EU in the future, given the current trends towards centralization of the union and talk of a "two-speed Europe." However, the Deputy Prime Minister also noted that Vuldzhev's concerns make sense and are an example of a reasonable and right-wing criticism of our country's potential entry into the Eurozone, in contrast to the populist fears of sharp inflation, which are completely unfounded.

See more in the video.

Vuldzhev also took part in the same topic on the Bulgarian National Radio and Television "Europe.

Did you like it? Take a minute to support the EKIP on Patreon!