Bulgaria challenges Montenegro's SAA

Bulgaria says it will block Montenegro’s signing of the SAA if its demands on the Cyrillic spelling of "euro" are not met. Montenegro is set to sign a Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) - bringing it a step closer to the EU -on October 15, during a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg. Bulgaria challenges Montenegro's SAA But in the Bulgarian translation of Montenegro's SAA the European currency would be written as "euro" (еуро) instead of "evro" (евро), which is how it is transcribed in Cyrillic. Sofia is refusing to accept this. “The Bulgarian foreign minister will be very happy to sign the agreement on Monday, but only if the euro is spelled out as ‘evro" in the Bulgarian contract or if some sort of compromise is reached," a senior Bulgarian diplomat said on Thursday (11 October). Compromises would include writing "common European currency" instead of "euro"; putting the euro sign € ; or using the currency abbreviation EUR – that way avoiding the use of the word "euro" and getting round the issue of how it should be transcribed. It is now up to the Portuguese presidency to submit proposals, hoping to get to a solution before Monday. EU ambassadors will also hold another meeting early on Monday morning. But in any case, if the SAA is not signed next week as planned, it will be signed later: "This is not about canceling the signing of the agreement, it would only postpone it", the diplomat said putting the matter into perspective. Other countries where the euro is pronounced differently, including Slovenia which also uses "evro", have tried to obtain a different spelling of the common currency. They all failed – except for Greece. Unlike Slovenia which uses the Latin alphabet, Greece had put forward its different alphabet as an argument – something the Bulgarians are trying to do as well, stressing the particularities of the Cyrillic alphabet and of the Bulgarian language. The prefix "eu" in foreign words written in the Latin alphabet is always pronounced – and transcribed– as "ev" in Bulgarian using the Cyrillic alphabet. For instance, Europe becomes "Evropa", eurozone becomes "evrozona" – and euro becomes "evro". The argument has not swayed the ECB however, which insists that "the name of the common currency unit must be the same in all the official languages of the EU", as decided by EU leaders in December 1995 in Madrid. Sofia points out that this decision also emphasizes „the existence of different alphabets" should be taken into account. The second – and strongest – legal argument put forward by Sofia is the fact that its particular spelling of the European currency figures in its accession agreement. The document ratified by all EU states before Sofia joined the bloc, says that the euro will be called "evro" in Bulgaria. The legal service of the Council of the EU stated last spring that this had been a purely technical mistake and asked to correct it – something Sofia did not accept and the "correction" did not pass. Counting on these arguments, Bulgaria is hoping to get as much support as possible from within the EU and intends to fight to defend its more-than-1,100-year-old "cultural heritage", as it calls the Cyrillic alphabet. With the looming SAA impasse, Montenegro's ambassador in Brussels went to see his Bulgarian counterpart for an emergency meeting on Thursday, while alarmed Montenegrin ministers were calling Sofia during the day hoping to clarify the situation. Whatever the outcome of the "evro" issue, it is unlikely to end here. It will have further implications for other Balkan countries lining up to join the EU and using the Cyrillic alphabet. The "evro" would be used in Montenegro itself, but also in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and in Serbia who would all have the same problem in the future.

Bulgaria challenges Montenegro's SAA

But in the Bulgarian translation of Montenegro's SAA the European currency would be written as "euro" (еуро) instead of "evro" (евро), which is how it is transcribed in Cyrillic.

Sofia is refusing to accept this.

“The Bulgarian foreign minister will be very happy to sign the agreement on Monday, but only if the euro is spelled out as ‘evro" in the Bulgarian contract or if some sort of compromise is reached," a senior Bulgarian diplomat said on Thursday (11 October).

Compromises would include writing "common European currency" instead of "euro"; putting the euro sign € ; or using the currency abbreviation EUR – that way avoiding the use of the word "euro" and getting round the issue of how it should be transcribed.

It is now up to the Portuguese presidency to submit proposals, hoping to get to a solution before Monday. EU ambassadors will also hold another meeting early on Monday morning.

But in any case, if the SAA is not signed next week as planned, it will be signed later: "This is not about canceling the signing of the agreement, it would only postpone it", the diplomat said putting the matter into perspective.

Other countries where the euro is pronounced differently, including Slovenia which also uses "evro", have tried to obtain a different spelling of the common currency. They all failed – except for Greece.

Unlike Slovenia which uses the Latin alphabet, Greece had put forward its different alphabet as an argument – something the Bulgarians are trying to do as well, stressing the particularities of the Cyrillic alphabet and of the Bulgarian language.

The prefix "eu" in foreign words written in the Latin alphabet is always pronounced – and transcribed– as "ev" in Bulgarian using the Cyrillic alphabet. For instance, Europe becomes "Evropa", eurozone becomes "evrozona" – and euro becomes "evro".

The argument has not swayed the ECB however, which insists that "the name of the common currency unit must be the same in all the official languages of the EU", as decided by EU leaders in December 1995 in Madrid.

Sofia points out that this decision also emphasizes „the existence of different alphabets" should be taken into account.

The second – and strongest – legal argument put forward by Sofia is the fact that its particular spelling of the European currency figures in its accession agreement.

The document ratified by all EU states before Sofia joined the bloc, says that the euro will be called "evro" in Bulgaria.

The legal service of the Council of the EU stated last spring that this had been a purely technical mistake and asked to correct it – something Sofia did not accept and the "correction" did not pass.

Counting on these arguments, Bulgaria is hoping to get as much support as possible from within the EU and intends to fight to defend its more-than-1,100-year-old "cultural heritage", as it calls the Cyrillic alphabet.

With the looming SAA impasse, Montenegro's ambassador in Brussels went to see his Bulgarian counterpart for an emergency meeting on Thursday, while alarmed Montenegrin ministers were calling Sofia during the day hoping to clarify the situation.

Whatever the outcome of the "evro" issue, it is unlikely to end here. It will have further implications for other Balkan countries lining up to join the EU and using the Cyrillic alphabet.

The "evro" would be used in Montenegro itself, but also in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and in Serbia who would all have the same problem in the future.