. this combination of experience is further strengthened by the longstanding and successful cooperation between the consortium members. the advantage of having a consortium is that it offers larger experience and a broader pull of experts from the twinning partner institutions. the three consortium members have completed many successful twinning projects in the financial sector and have gained a sound project management capacity. we have strongly committed ourselves to this project for various reasons. we are encouraged by the progress achieved by the financial supervision authorities in montenegro in bringing financial sector regulation closer to the eu requirements. also, there are many signs of already built cooperation with the montenegrin authorities that need further strengthening. bulgaria, the netherlands and montenegro are in the same imf constituency which has created good mutual knowledge of their economies and fostered long - term cooperation on financial issues. we consider our experience relevant to montenegro not only because of the scale of the economy, but also because of the similarities of the supervisory structures. in the accession process we have learnt several major lessons. bulgaria did not ask for any transitional periods or derogations concerning the banking sector acquis communautaire. furthermore, all eu directives in this sector were transposed in time and most of them long before the deadlines. this approach has turned to be a success since the early adoption of the eu rules in financial supervision contributed to the smooth functioning of the financial market and fostered the stability of the financial system. one of the main keys to the smooth transition in the accession process is the cooperation between the institutions involved in financial regulation and supervision. the respect for the independence of financial supervision authorities and the cooperation between them is an important indicator for the preparedness for eu accession. i would like to emphasise in particular the requirement for institutional financial and personal independence of the central bank as stipulated in article 130 of the lisbon treaty. let me now turn to the challenges ahead of our project. first of all, the eu response to the crisis envisages fundamental changes in both the legal and institutional frameworks of financial regulation. most of the eu directives and regulations are currently being changed. ( mr. simeonov will talk about these later ) this is a challenge for our project, and i would like to suggest that we take into consideration the latest eu acquis communautaire in our joint work. that is why we included in our team the experts who are members of the eu committees and working groups in the area of financial supervision, including the committee of european banking supervisors, economic

central bank, communicated just a few days ago. in short, this is as follows : there are clear signs of economic recovery ; however, the uncertainty with regard to the pandemic and the way it will be curbed is still great. depending on the developments, both in the country and in the euro area, we in the bulgarian national bank are ready to launch additional measures, if needed. out of the context of specific additional crisis - related measures, in the current year we also achieved development of enormous strategic importance, which will be ever more highly valued in the future. what i have in mind is the simultaneous accession of the bulgarian lev to the eu exchange rate mechanism and the country to the european banking union. this is the first step towards bulgaria ’ s full integration into the euro area, i. e. to the core of the european union, an act the importance of which goes far beyond the banking and financial sector. in a matter of days, on 1 october, the bulgarian national bank, through its banking supervision, will become the first bulgarian institution that is a full - fledged member of an important euro area institution – the single supervisory mechanism. this, inter alia, is a notable example of institutional development. only a few years ago the supervision was one of the most vulnerable and most criticized regulatory institutions in the country. now, it is one of the most sound and strong institutions, unanimously welcomed to the family of eu banking supervision. this example of institutional development may also be applied in other important areas. this will allow us to cope not only with the challenges of the present but also of the future day. please allow me to end on this note and to thank you sincerely for the privilege to be with you on this day and to wish you a successful academic year. 2 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches