UPDATE 1-Bulgarian parliament votes in new banking supervisor

The Bulgarian parliament on Friday appointed a new banking supervisor as the Balkan country prepares to join Europe's banking union and the euro zone's waiting room this year.

Radoslav Milenkov, 46, will take over one of the four top jobs at the Bulgarian central bank and will be in charge of overseeing banks for a six-year term after the unexpected resignation of his predecessor this month. Bulgaria has applied to get into close cooperation with the Single Supervisory Mechanism, one of the two pillars of the EU banking union, as part of its aspiration to adopt the euro currency.

As part of the process, the European Central Bank is carrying out health checks at six of Bulgaria's 20 banks. Results are expected in July. Sofia expects to join both the banking union and the ERM-2 mechanism, the two-year obligatory precursor to the euro zone this summer.

Bulgaria meets the nominal criteria to adopt the euro with its low debt and sound public finances, but it is also the European Union's poorest member state and one of its most corrupt. (Reporting by Tsvetelia Tsolova Editing by David Goodman)