site.btaBNB Board Member: Approval Procedure for Bulgarian Alphabet Commemorative Euro Coin Still Underway

The procedure for approving the design of the commemorative 2-euro coin dedicated to the Bulgarian alphabet is still ongoing, Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) Governing Council member Lyubomir Karimansky told Bulgarian National Television here on Sunday.

Karimansky said Bulgaria should stand firm in defending its position on the origin of the Cyrillic script.

"One country has raised objections, arguing that other states that may join the European Union in the future also use the Cyrillic script and that, therefore, we cannot describe it as the Bulgarian alphabet. There are indeed many sources that refer to the Cyrillic script as the Bulgarian alphabet. The coin's design has been prepared exceptionally well and in a very good style. We must defend our Bulgarian alphabet," he said.

The issue was also addressed on Friday by President Iliana Iotova, who said it was entirely justified for the BNB to stand up for its commemorative coin project. Speaking at a ceremony marking Prof. Nikolay Nenovsky's assumption of a new six-year term as a member of the BNB Governing Council, Iotova said public institutions should be courageous in defending the public interest, particularly regarding the commemorative coin dedicated to the Bulgarian alphabet.

Earlier on Friday, the BNB told BTA that the procedure for approving the coin design under the applicable European legal framework and national legislation was still ongoing. The central bank noted that the current discussions were not related to the project's expert technical assessment and said it would refrain from commenting publicly on statements and correspondence exchanged during the procedure until it had been completed.

Excessive deficit procedure

Commenting on the European Commission's stated intention to propose opening an excessive deficit procedure against Bulgaria, Karimansky explained that the mechanism differs from country to country and involves various corrective measures.

"As a first step, the government must propose measures aimed at reducing the deficit and present a strategy that would be acceptable to the European Commission," he said.

According to Karimansky, Bulgaria needs to restore fiscal discipline and pursue a more sustainable budgetary policy.

"One of the problems is the expenditure that accumulated in the public sector. It was disproportionate to the state of the economy and inflation and led to structural problems in fiscal policy. This created an avalanche-like increase in spending that is now difficult to stop," the BNB Governing Council member said.