15 10 2007 Brussels_ The planned signing of a key agreement between the EU and Montenegro on Monday has been put at risk because of an “alphabetical” dispute among EU member-countries.
Bulgaria is threatening to block a Stabilisation and Association Agreement, SAA, over the spelling of the word 'Euro' in the text, an EU official in Brussels said.
The source confirmed that Bulgaria has the right to ask to have “euro” spelt in the Cyrillic way because it is written that way in its EU accession treaty.
Bulgaria, which joined the EU in January, refers to the common European currency as “evro” with a “v”, rather than “euro” with a “u”.
It is also the version used in Greece which belongs to the Eurozone group of countries that have already adopted the common currency.
Krisztina Nagy, spokesperson of the EU’s Enlargement Commissioner, Olli Rehn, said that Rehn was concerned over the possible blocking of the SAA with Montenegro.
"He thinks it is regrettable. Bulgaria is prepared to take Montenegro hostage over an unrelated linguistic-technical issue, whatever its domestic importance," Nagy said.
If no agreement is reached over the weekend between Bulgaria and its 26 EU partners, Montenegro’s SAA might not be signed, as scheduled.
Officials in Brussels insist that this will put into question the credibility of the EU’s policy towards the western Balkans.
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