GERB Blocks BNB Amendments, Raising Concerns Over Bulgaria's Eurozone Entry (UPDATED)

The adoption of amendments to the Law on the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB), crucial for Bulgaria's entry into the eurozone, was unexpectedly blocked in parliament as the ruling GERB party withheld its support. These changes, introduced by Dimitar Glavchev's caretaker government, aimed to align the BNB leadership's responsibilities with constitutional reforms from 2023, which allow central bank officials to assume government roles such as Prime Minister. The amendments would have required the BNB governor and deputies to resign if they accepted such positions.

During the vote, only 33 MPs from "We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria" (WCC-DB) backed the bill. Opposition parties, including "Revival," "DPS-New Beginning" (DPS-Peevski) and "BSP-United Left," as well as several GERB MPs, voted against, while most GERB MPs, along with those from "Democracy, Rights and Freedoms" (DPS-Dogan) and "There Is Such a People" (TISP), abstained.

Debates on the bill descended into contentious exchanges. Martin Dimitrov from DB accused GERB of avoiding accountability and aligning with Revival to block the legislation. Revival's Tsoncho Ganev retorted by calling WCC-DB a "Dogan mat" and accusing them of siding with GERB. A heated dispute also erupted between Revival and BSP representatives after Atanas Atanasov from the left criticized Revival for exploiting public fears with "cheap populism." Revival leader Kostadin Kostadinov fired back, claiming BSP would fail to enter the next parliament as its members will defect to Revival. Atanasov dismissed Kostadinov's remarks as desperate attempts for legitimacy.

Yavor Bozhankov of WCC-DB also targeted Revival, accusing them of hypocrisy for benefiting from European funding while opposing the...