An EU directive recommends that the EU member states, including Bulgaria, implement as soon as possible debt-forgiving regulations and enforce personal bankruptcy procedure both for companies and individuals. Bulgaria is the only EU country which has not yet adopted a mechanism for personal bankruptcy and where consumers turn into life-long debtors. The EU directive aims to remove the so-called eternal debtors, reduce the volume of non-performing loans and give entrepreneurs a second chance through a preventive restructuring of their debts at an earlier stage before bankruptcy. Each year an average of 1.7 million people in the EU lose their jobs due to bankruptcies.