The dispute over the spelling of the euro in the Bulgarian language threatens to delay the final step of the European Union towards strengthening ties with the Western Balkans, EU diplomats said.
At a meeting of EU ambassadors, Bulgaria did not want to approve the signing of the Stabilization and Association Agreement with Montenegro, scheduled for Monday, unless it is allowed to call the common European currency "evro" instead of euro. EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn stated that it is sad that Bulgaria is willing to use Montenegro as a hostage in its linguistic problem that has nothing to do with it, no matter how important it is domestically in Bulgaria. "If this is not resolved very quickly, the delay will jeopardize the credibility of European stabilization policy in the Western Balkans and endanger the progress of SAA agreements and their advancement in other countries, such as Serbia," he asserted, as reported in the morning news of HRT.
