In the end I regard as a historic success that we realized

Two years after its accession to the European Union, the Bulgaria is not only remained the poorest country of the twenty-seven, but especially that which concern more than Brussels in the fight against corruption. To the point that the European Commission took an unprecedented extent, in November, removing 220 million euros of European funding, the country should receive and by freezing to 300 million of additional payments. A decision which led to the bitterness of the whole of the Bulgarian political class, starting with the Prime Minister himself, Sergei Stanichev.

What balance are you getting your first two years of participation in the European Union

To be honest, I think that our integration process was more difficult than that experienced previous new entrants in the Union, because the political atmosphere has changed. We arrived after the rejection of the Constitutional Treaty by the France and the Netherlands, in a context where some consider that the enlargement of Europe has gone too far. Our task was not easy: we have had in a year and a half, making 120 new laws and implement. In the end, I regard as a historic success that we realized. Two years after our integration, we have become a useful member of the Union, who brings his stone at the community building on number of topics. Unfortunately, this is felt not always in the comments of the European media.

In the fight against corruption, consider the decision by Brussels to freeze some European funds for your country as unjust punishment

We had the announcement of the Commission as a challenge, even if it has deeply disappointed many of us. In any case, it proves that we need to demonstrate the usefulness of our membership to the European Union. This involves first a regular collaboration with our European partners, but also better communication from us. If you look at it closely, in the fight against corruption and organized crime, we have made much progress. Our drug seizures doubled over a year. Many investigations are underway to stop officials, including leading personalities, such as mayors or businessmen. Each week, we're making progress. But please, don't forget where we come from: the 1990 Decade was extremely difficult in our country. Democracy and the market economy are the recent progress, unlike most major European countries. Yes, we have probably committed errors, but we would like the question to ask our partners to be as follows: this country is changing in the right or the wrong direction In addition, adopt a too intransigent attitude to the Bulgaria, take the risk of Euroskepticism progress in this country, I want to avoid at all costs.

What are your projects to the euro

Our ambition is to join the euro area. The euro is a great factor of stability in the current crisis. If you take the accession to the single currency criteria, is there only one that we do not respect: inflation. What is the logical consequence of the strong economic growth that we know. But the trend is now in recession and we will bring closer to 3 inflation. For the rest, we have doubled our reserve currency over the past three years and we have managed to maintain constant rate of Exchange against the euro. Also identifies a budget surplus and, at the time where some countries in the region, whose growth was too unbalanced, need financial support from Europe, discussed the crisis with more serenity. Without exaggeration, I think it's a great success and a positive contribution of the Bulgaria to the stability of the European edifice. While some members of the euro area exceed, by far the ceilings set by the Maastricht rules, we would like that our status as "préadhérent" to the euro is officially recognized, which is not the case.