Maastricht Treaty

The Bulgarian Ministry of Finance is working on a budget with a deficit of up to 3% on an accrued basis, confirmed Deputy Minister Martin Danovski. This figure aligns with the Maastricht Treaty criteria, which is essential for Bulgaria's entry into the Eurozone.

The PM will inform EU leaders about the Greek-French Defence treaty

Euronews - Europe Day, observed on May 9 each year, marks the presentation of the Schuman Declaration in 1950, which proposed the creation of a European Coal and Steel Community, the forerunner to the European Union.

Bulgaria and Romania can join the Eurozone once they have met all membership criteria, the managing director of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), the Eurozone's rescue fund, said. "It is an ongoing process [...] Other countries should join but they need to meet the criteria," Klaus Regling said in response to a SeeNews question during a press briefing in Luxembourg last week.

BELGRADE - Twenty-five years after signing of the Maastricht Treaty for the creation of the EU, there are some people in Germany who say that the EU today is similar to Yugoslavia just before its collapse.

In Serbia where for more than 20 years people have been fed promises of becoming part of the EU, expectations are not as high as they used to be.

France favours a "stronger organisation" behind the euro led by "a vanguard of countries", French President Francois Hollande said in an interview published on July 19. 

A European Commission report on euro-area convergence released on Wednesday says that of eight EU member states, only Lithuania meets all the criteria for joining the euro.

Romania and Bulgaria are among the countries that are not ready yet to switch to the single currency, according to the report.