KEY ACTIVITIES OF THE BULGARIAN NATIONAL BANK ON THE EVE OF THE COUNTRY'S MEMBERSHIP IN THE EURO AREA

The paper analyzes some major aspects of the activities of the Central Bank of Bulgaria -the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) on the eve of the country's membership in the Euro area.The topic of the paper is undoubtedly relevant, as the country's membership in the Eurozone has been a key strategic goal of Bulgarian economic policy since the country joined the EU as a full member on 1 January 2007.The main attention in the paper is paid to the key changes in the BNB activities in the following areas: regulatory framework of the BNB and its compliance with the European legal framework, primary objective and basic tasks of the BNB, functional structure and management structure of the BNB.The paper also presents the fulfilment of the Maastricht criteria by Bulgaria according to the latest convergence report published by the ECB in June 2025.