Bulgaria will adopt the euro on Thursday, becoming the 21st member of the currency union in a move supporters say will anchor the economy and deepen ties to the West — even as a skeptical public fears higher prices and fresh instability.
The shift ends more than two decades of operating under a strict currency board, in which the lev was first pegged to the German mark and later to the euro after the single currency’s rollout in 2002. Joining now gives Sofia a seat at the table where monetary policy decisions are made, a change long advocated by economists. “It will now finally be able to take part in decision making within this monetary union,” said Georgi Angelov, senior economist at the Open Society Institute in Sofia.
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Public opinion remains fractured. A protest campaign to “keep the Bulgarian lev” gained traction this year, amplifying fears of price rises and channeling a generally negative view of the euro among many voters. Far-right and pro-Russia parties have backed several anti-euro rallies. The latest Eurobarometer survey found 49% of Bulgarians opposed the single currency.
Those anxieties are felt acutely in poorer, rural areas. “Prices will go up. That’s what friends of mine who live in Western Europe told me,” said Bilyana Nikolova, 53, who runs a grocery shop in the village of Chuprene in northwestern Bulgaria. Food prices were up 5% year-on-year in November, more than double the eurozone average, according to the National Statistical Institute, and households are still grappling with the longer shadow of inflation.
Mindful of the risk of opportunistic markups during the changeover, parliament this year empowered oversight bodies to investigate sharp price increases and curb “unjustified” surges linked to the switch. But political turbulence could complicate the transition. “Any issues will become part of the political campaign, which creates a basis for rhetoric directed against the EU,” said Boryana Dimitrova of polling firm Alpha Research. Analysts warn that instability could delay anti-corruption reforms and undermine the economic payoff of joining the euro area. “The challenge will be to have a stable government for at least one to two years, so we can fully reap the benefits,” Angelov said.
European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, speaking recently in Sofia, called the gains “substantial,” citing smoother trade, lower financing costs and more stable prices over time. She said the impact on consumer prices in previous euro changeovers was “modest and short-lived,” generally between 0.2 and 0.4 percentage points. Small and medium-sized businesses stand to save about €500 million in exchange fees, according to Lagarde, while tourism — which generated around 8% of Bulgaria’s GDP this year — is expected to benefit from simpler pricing and payment for visitors.
Bulgaria joined the euro’s “waiting room,” the Exchange Rate Mechanism, in 2020 alongside Croatia, which entered the eurozone in 2023. The country’s path has been shaped by its 1990s hyperinflation crisis and subsequent currency board, which brought stability but left monetary policy dependent on the ECB. Euro adoption completes that trajectory by extending the same anchor while formalizing Bulgaria’s role in euro-area governance.
As Bulgarians prepare to swap levs for euros, the national story will also be stamped onto coinage. The Madara Rider — an eighth-century rock relief showing a knight triumphing over a lion, carved into a cliff near the village of Madara and listed by UNESCO since 1979 — will appear on the 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 cent coins. The €1 coin will feature John of Rila, Bulgaria’s patron saint and founder of the country’s largest monastery. The €2 coin will carry the image of Paisius of Hilandar, the 18th-century monk whose writing helped spark Bulgaria’s national revival. Its edge will bear the inscription: “God protect Bulgaria.”
Whether the euro ushers in a period of greater prosperity or provides fuel for a divisive political fight may depend less on the coins in people’s pockets than on the stability and policy choices that follow. For now, Sofia is betting that full entry into Europe’s core economic project will bring the long-promised dividend.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
