A total of 25 EU member states approve the controversial fiscal pact

On Monday evening, a total of 25 out of the 27 member states of the European Union, including Bulgaria, approved the final text of the fiscal pact. The agreement also calls upon achieving progress in the discussion on coordination of fiscal policies. Prime Minister Boyko Borissov clearly stated that the text did not oblige Bulgaria to raise its tax rates and that he would not support such a decision.

"Еxchange of experience and fight against tax frauds are top political priorities for Bulgaria considering the fact that on the EU territory the different taxation systems are affected by various tax crimes, which we wish to counter and fight jointly," commented Borissov after the pact adoption. "We have stated clearly that on March 1st we will not sign any agreement because the Bulgarian Parliament will refuse to give permission on that. The resistance, shown by the Netherlands with respect to the Bulgarian accession to the Schengen area, will occur in case any Prime Minister refuses to ink an agreement. We do not say that Bulgaria will deliberately waive the signing of agreements. What happened was a bad precedent – given that Bulgaria complies with the accession criteria at 100%, for one reason or another we are not in the Schengen area," retorted Borissov. Bulgaria will adhere to the decisions taken in Brussels, but we will not raise our taxes, reiterated he again.

As expected, the UK did not approve the document. However, the surprise came from the Czech Republic - the country will not join the pact for the time being since the legislative amendments, referring to the document ratification, were too complex. In contrast, Poland, which previously threatened to stay away from the process, eventually said "yes" after receiving assurances that the countries outside the Euroarea will participate in the meetings of the International Monetary Union. The latter solution is also acceptable to Bulgaria. The Prime Minister stressed that these separate summits would be held after the sessions of the regular European Councils, conducted under the format EU-27. Finance Minister Simeon Djankov mailed a letter to his colleagues from the EU countries outside the Euroarea, insisting they should be granted an observer status at the summit meetings of the Eurozone.