Borisov: Bulgaria Won't Be Contributing Money to EU Measures against Debt Crisis

Prime Minister of Bulgaria Boyko Borisov arrives in Brussels, Belgium, 26 October 2011. European leaders were gathering in Brussels on 26 October 2011 for a summit. EPA/BGNES

Bulgaria is not going to be contributing funds direct to the measures of the EU and the euro zone for overcoming the debt crisis, at least for the time being, Prime Minister Boyko Borisov announced in Brussels.

Borisov spoke to reporters after the meeting of the European Council, i.e. the leaders of the EU 27, which agreed on a bank recapitalization deal while falling short of a more wide-ranging and eagerly anticipated agreement, and before the meeting of the 17 Eurogroup leaders.

"It is crucial that the European Council has made a political decision. Now the EU 27, and the EZ 17 later, I suppose, will all have a common position," the Bulgarian PM stated, as cited by BGNES, while also calling for the freezing of salaries and pensions in EU countries with excessive budget deficits.

He said the major outcome of the European Council Summit was the bank recapitalization deal, and that he would abstain from talking in greater detail because he is not a financier; however, he said he expected EU Council President Herman van Rompuy and EC President Jose Manuel Barroso to make a statement subsequently.

"For the time being Bulgaria will not be contributing funds to the solving of the current euro zone issues. However, our government is working in favor of European solidarity and fiscal discipline. The Bulgarian National Bank is keeping a very close eye on the situation. In addition to the requirement to keep 15% of their capital in Bulgaria, the Bulgarian subsidiaries of Greek banks are judicial persons with a lot of assets. I hope the Greek government will manage to introduce quickly measures to cope with the crisis because the constant talk about a crisis is scaring off investors, reducing trust, affecting domestic consumption," Borisov declared in Brussels.

He further urged the European Council, instead of dealing constantly with the "problematic states", to start rewarding those EU countries with strict fiscal discipline.

"It is about time to start talking about the countries, including Bulgaria, which has introduced and suffered through all austerity measures. The constant talk about countries with huge deficits which didn't prepare their banking systems, and kept handing out high salaries and pensions, spending more than they can afford, is already having a negative effect even on the states with strict fiscal discipline," the Bulgarian Prime Minister stressed.

He told international journalists that government salaries and retirement pensions in Bulgaria have been frozen for the past three years, but that Bulgaria has managed to keep its budget deficit and public debt among the lowest in the EU, and advised the other EU states with fiscal problems to freeze their salaries and pensions for three years as well.

At the EU 27 leaders' summit in Brussels, in which Borisov took part, the European Council agreed to force banks to raise more capital by June 2012 as a countermeasure against potential losses from a restructuring of Greece's debts and the wider financial crisis in Europe.

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