ERM membership delayed but not forgotten
Overview:
Ambitious plans to join ERM II in 2010/2011 to facilitate membership of the Euro two years later proved unrealisable due to the economic recession and a larger than expected budget deficit in 2010. However, the GERB administration is still committed to joining. A budget deficit below the Maastricht-defined limit of 3% of GDP in 2011 and plans for an even smaller deficit in 2012 may return this theme to the political agenda despite the ongoing euro area debt crisis. Bulgaria is not the only small country in the region that still wants to join the Euro despite its recent problems due to its high degree of trade and financial integration with that bloc and the costs to a small economy of maintaining its own currency. GERB continues to dominate the political scene after victories in presidential and local elections last October.