Bulgaria will become the 21st country to adopt the euro, but some believe the move could bring higher prices and add to instability in the European Union’s poorest country.
A protest campaign emerged this year to “keep the Bulgarian lev”, playing on public fears of price rises and a generally negative view of the euro among much of the population.
But successive governments have pushed to join the eurozone and supporters insist it will boost the economy, reinforce ties to the West and protect against Russia’s influence.
The single currency first rolled out in 12 countries on 1 January 2002, and has since regularly extended its influence, with Croatia the last country to join in 2023.
But Bulgaria faces unique challenges, including anti-corruption protests that recently swept a conservative-led government from office, leaving the country on the verge of its eighth election in five years.
The latest survey by the EU’s polling agency Eurobarometer suggested 49% of Bulgarians were against the single currency.
An EU member since 2007, Bulgaria joined the so-called “waiting room” to the single currency in 2020, at the same time as Croatia.
The gains of joining the euro are “substantial”, ECB president Christine Lagarde said last month in Sofia, citing “smoother trade, lower financing costs and more stable prices”.
Small and medium-sized enterprises stand to save an equivalent of some €500 million in exchange fees, she added.
One sector expected to benefit in the Black Sea nation is tourism, which this year generated around 8% of the country’s GDP.
Ms Lagarde predicted the impact on consumer prices would be “modest and short-lived”, saying in earlier euro changeovers, the impact was between 0.2 and 0.4 percentage points.
Food prices in November were up 5% year-on-year, according to the National Statistical Institute, more than double the eurozone average.
Parliament this year adopted empowered oversight bodies to investigate sharp price hikes and curb “unjustified” surges linked to the euro changeover.
But analysts fear wider political uncertainty risks delaying much needed anti-corruption reforms, which could have a knock-on effect on the wider economy.
“The challenge will be to have a stable government for at least one to two years, so we can fully reap the benefits of joining the euro area,” Mr Angelov said.
See full details on the new Bulgarian Euro coins here
A saint, a monk, a rock: Bulgaria’s euro coin designs
Ancient rock art, a patron saint and a monk will be emblazoned on euro coins from Thursday, when Bulgaria joins the single currency.
The motifs are already on the lev, the currency Bulgaria adopted 1881 and which is named after an archaic word meaning “lion”.
The Madara Rider, a rock relief created at the beginning of the eighth century during the first years of the formation of the Bulgarian state, graces the one, two, five, 10, 20 and 50 cent coins.
The art work, showing a knight triumphing over a lion, is carved into a cliff near the village of Madara in northeast Bulgaria. The site has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1979.
The €1 coin features Bulgarian patron saint John of Rila (c. 876-946), regarded as the founder of the Rila Monastery, the largest in the country.
He is said to have become a hermit in the mountains and to have lived in the hollow of a centuries-old tree.
The 2 coin features Paisius of Hilandar (1722-c. 1773), a monk of the Orthodox monastery on Mount Athos who wrote a key work of Bulgaria’s national revival.
The edge of the coin bears the inscription: “God protect Bulgaria”.
Goodbye to the lev
By Bulgaria’s law on the adoption of the euro, from January 1 to June 30 2026, all commercial banks are required to exchange lev coins into euro free of charge. The same law says that you need not be a client of the bank to use this service.
Bulgarian Posts will also do the exchange in places which do not have commercial bank branches.
Dual circulation in January
During the first month from the date of the introduction of the euro in Bulgaria, the lev and the euro will be in circulation simultaneously, and both currencies will have the status of legal means of payment. After the expiration of this one month, the euro will remain the only legal tender in Bulgaria.
At the till
In the period of dual circulation – that is, January – traders must give the change to their customers in euro, except in cases where the trader has insufficient cash on hand, in which case the trader will be allowed to return the change in leva.
Read more via The Sofia Globe
