step to introduce the euro. On 12 May, European Commission executive vice president Valdis Dombrovskis stated that Bulgaria could join ERM II together with Croatia in July, which both countries did on 10 July. Joining the Eurozone Bulgaria is in the process of joining the Eurozone. On 17 February 2023, Finance Minister Rositsa Velkova announced that Bulgaria will not join the Eurozone on 1 January 2024 and that the new target date for the entry into the euro area would be 1 January 2025. Status Advantages of euro adoption Because the lev is pegged to the euro at a fixed exchange rate, it can be argued that Bulgaria is already a de facto member of the euro area insofar that it cannot pursue an independent monetary policy and is therefore bound by the monetary policy and interest rate decisions of the European Central Bank (ECB) without having a say. Adopting the euro and thereby becoming a de jure member of the euro area would enhance Bulgaria's position by giving it a voice within the ECB. Moreover, the fact that the lev is pegged to the euro at a fixed exchange rate also means that Bulgaria cannot devalue its currency in order to make its exports more competitive. Therefore, Bulgaria would not lose anything in this regard by adopting the euro. Other advantages of adopting the euro include the improved supervision of Bulgaria's systemically important banks once it has joined ERM II together with the Banking union, and the decreased cost of borrowing and full access to the rescue packages of the euro area that are intended to deal with the economic effects of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. Selecting the design Bulgarian euro coins will replace the lev once the convergence criteria are fulfilled. On the occasion of the signing of the EU accession treaty on 25 April 2005, the Bulgarian National Bank issued a commemorative coin with a face value of 1.95583 leva, giving it a nominal value of exactly 1 euro. The Madara Rider was one of the favourites to become the symbol of Bulgaria to be used on the national side of the country's euro coins. Other eminent pretenders for the title 'Symbol of Bulgaria' were the ancient tradition of the nestinars (Bulgarian fire-dancers), Cyrillic, the Rila Monastery and the Tsarevets medieval fortress near Veliko Turnovo. By 17 June 2008, debates about the design of the future Bulgarian