Economy of the European Union

"January 1, 2024 is a possible date from which we can start paying in euros. If by the middle of the year we receive confirmation from the ECB that we are joining the Еurozone from the beginning of next year, then we will have to start preparations.

Bank accounts will automatically be converted from BGN to EUR on the day of the introduction of the single European currency, emphasized the Governor of the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) Dimitar Radev in his publication in the bulletin of the Association of Commercial Banks.

The European Investment Bank announced on Wednesday it is committing 28.5 million euros in financing for the Public Power Corporation Group's renewable energy arm, to help support the construction of three solar farms.

The EIB financing will reach a maximum amount of €35 million over the coming months.

The new head of the European Stability Mechanism, Pierre Gramegna, announced on Monday he will visit Greece in the next couple of weeks.

"In the unstable global environment, Greece has succeeded," said Finance Minister Christos Staikouras at the Eurogroup meeting on Monday, pointing out the strong resilience and positive prospects of the Greek economy.

The de-escalation of eurozone inflation, which fell to 9.2% in December, is not expected to convince the European Central Bank to ease its aggressiveness in interest rate hikes, at least for now, analysts note to Kathimerini, a mistake in policy and also its predictions - which have often proven wrong - not ruled out, as it risks acting excessively in its struggle to tame high prices.

Today, Finance Minister Christos Staikouras will participate in the Ecofin meeting, where the economic and fiscal impact of the war in Ukraine will be discussed.

Croatia's Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic has announced that fines will be imposed on traders who refuse to return old prices that they unreasonably raised when converting from kuna to euros after the country joined the Eurozone on January 1.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is providing a $110 million loan to Enerjisa Enerji to finance a comprehensive investment package that includes expanding Türkiye's electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure.

The majority of Polish citizens are against the introduction of the euro, according to a study by the IBRiS research center commissioned by Zet radio, BTA reported.

When asked whether Poland should accept the common European currency and replace the Polish zloty with it, 14.7 percent of respondents answered "yes" and 9.8 percent "I tend to agree."