Bulgaria will participate in the ECB interest rate meeting for the first time

This week, the European Central Bank (ECB) will hold a two-day meeting on eurozone monetary policy, in which Bulgaria will participate for the first time. The country became the 21st member of the eurozone, which gives it the right to participate in setting interest rates in the currency union.

The meeting will take place on February 4-5, with a press conference on the second day to announce the decision of the bank's Governing Council (GC).

How decisions are made

Decisions on interest rates in the eurozone are made on the basis of a rotation system within the Governing Council, the highest decision-making body of the ECB, which is responsible for conducting monetary policy. It comprises six members of the Executive Board and 21 governors of the national central banks.

When making decisions, euro area countries are divided into groups according to the size of their economies and financial sectors. A ranking system has been introduced to determine which group each national central bank governor belongs to.

The governors in the first to fifth places (Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands) have a total of four votes. All other countries (16 in total after Bulgaria joined on January 1, 2026) have a total of 11 voting rights. The governors take turns, with the rights being used on a monthly rotation basis.

The members of the ECB's Executive Board have permanent voting rights.

Why is it necessary to rotate voting rights?

The ECB's website states that rotation helps to maintain the Governing Council's ability to act even as the number of euro area countries gradually increases and the number of its members grows accordingly.