[Tubby Isaacs]

Thoughts? Quite a neat way of clipping the wings of headbangers (even Le Pen had to drop some of her wilder stuff) but I can quite easily foresee a time when Bulgaria might think they could do with lower interest rates than eg the Netherlands or a tactical devaluation. It's a heck of a call.

[Youngian]

Telling Moscow which way Bulgaria faces is a more important factor in this decision than debates about the Debt to GDP ratio. Its a good day for Europe and a bad one for Putin and Trump.

[RedSparrows]

Telling Moscow which way Bulgaria faces is a more important factor in this decision than debates about the Debt to GDP ratio. Its a good day for Europe and a bad one for Putin and Trump.

'How dare the globalists impose their views on a sovereign state, how dare NATO and the EU and *waves hands* THEM push people Westwards.'
'Can I ask why you think it is that almost every Eastern European state looks West, and not East? Could it be, oh, I don't know, the past two centuries of experience?'
'NO. IT'S THEM.'

[Tubby Isaacs]

Telling Moscow which way Bulgaria faces is a more important factor in this decision than debates about the Debt to GDP ratio. Its a good day for Europe and a bad one for Putin and Trump.

I get that, but I hope Bulgaria gets the support it needs if it gets into a rut. The Eurozone's ability to do this in the big crisis wasn't exactly impressive. If Dutch, Germans, Finns didn't fancy handing over money to Portuguese and Irish, they won't fancy doing it with Bulgaria with its corruption problems.

Public don't won't be a problem- it's arguably been kept too low, and could have done with a lot more spending on investment. But you can easily get into situations where the deficit surges. I hope the Commission is understanding if that happens.

[kreuzberger]

Aaaand, The BBC is both-sidesing the Borscht-flavoured resistance in BG to the Euro, without mentioning the otherwise widely reported Kremlin subversion in the country.

Plus ça change...

[Boiler]

Telling Moscow which way Bulgaria faces is a more important factor in this decision than debates about the Debt to GDP ratio. Its a good day for Europe and a bad one for Putin and Trump.

I get that, but I hope Bulgaria gets the support it needs if it gets into a rut. The Eurozone's ability to do this in the big crisis wasn't exactly impressive. If Dutch, Germans, Finns didn't fancy handing over money to Portuguese and Irish, they won't fancy doing it with Bulgaria with its corruption problems.

Public don't won't be a problem- it's arguably been kept too low, and could have done with a lot more spending on investment. But you can easily get into situations where the deficit surges. I hope the Commission is understanding if that happens.

The Greeks certainly weren't impressed in 2004, especially with the Germans.

[Tubby Isaacs]

The Greeks could have had a bit more space. I say that as someone who doesn't think the Eurozone/IMF/whoever ought to deal with profligate countries by saying "shucks, what you need is free money for Keynesian investment", and the Greeks were something of a special case in their fiscal recklessness.

Bulgaria isn't really like that though, more like eg a poor state in the US South (though of course much poorer) where things might be really shit but they nonetheless have a good credit rating.

[Youngian]

Telling Moscow which way Bulgaria faces is a more important factor in this decision than debates about the Debt to GDP ratio. Its a good day for Europe and a bad one for Putin and Trump.

I get that, but I hope Bulgaria gets the support it needs if it gets into a rut. The Eurozone's ability to do this in the big crisis wasn't exactly impressive. If Dutch, Germans, Finns didn't fancy handing over money to Portuguese and Irish, they won't fancy doing it with Bulgaria with its corruption problems.

Public don't won't be a problem- it's arguably been kept too low, and could have done with a lot more spending on investment. But you can easily get into situations where the deficit surges. I hope the Commission is understanding if that happens.

Bulgaria doesn't have an over-arching welfare state and its debt to GDP ratio is one of the lowest in Europe (about 28 percent). I doubt they'll need lectures from the Rhineland about prudence.