Speaking before his first meeting as the Eurogroup chair after being elected in December, Centeno, said that “politically” his message was very clear as he has already told the president of the European Commission (EC), Jean-Claude Juncker.

“Politically it is very important at this moment to look at the expansion of the euro zone with great optimism and determination.

Naturally, we have to create the conditions for this to happen. There is a series of criteria that Bulgaria already meets, we need to make a joint analysis if and when the Bulgarian authorities ask, but the political message I was to leave is that we have to look at this expansion in a very positive and constructive way”, Mário Centeno said.