EU sets conversion rate for Bulgaria's eurozone entry in 2026
EU finance ministers last month gave formal support to the Bulgaria joining the euro after positive assessments of the country's readiness from the European Commission and the European Central Bank. It was also to be endorsed by EU leaders at a summit in Brussels on June 26. Bulgaria has been striving to switch its lev to the euro since it joined the European Union in 2007.
But after such a long wait, many Bulgarians have lost their initial enthusiasm, with 50% now skeptical about the euro, according to a Eurobarometer poll in May. Some Bulgarians fear the currency switch will drive up prices.
Bulgaria's euro adoption will come three years after the last euro zone expansion, when Croatia joined the single currency grouping at the start of 2023.
The accession of Bulgaria into the euro zone will leave only six of the 27 EU countries outside the single currency area: Sweden, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Denmark. Bulgaria's journey to joining the eurozone has had a stormy political backdrop with seven elections in three years — the last in October 2024.
Its bid will be formally approved by EU finance ministers once they adopt the legal texts necessary for the historic move. '(This) is obviously a historical day for Bulgaria, so congratulations,' EU economy commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis told reporters in Brussels.
'It's also a good day, I would say, for Eurogroup and eurozone as a whole, as that strengthens and enlarges the eurozone,' he added. But recent polls show Bulgarian society remains divided on the euro, with experts attributing the skepticism largely to fears of rising prices and declining purchasing power. President Rumen Radev shocked many when he proposed holding a referendum on the matter but that was given short shrift by the Bulgarian parliament.
Since June, protesters have gathered in Sofia to call for 'keeping the Bulgarian lev'. A symbolic protest camp with several tents has been set up near the presidency and the Bulgarian National Bank in the capital.
Far-right opposition parties have used the issue to promote anti-EU narratives. Proponents in Bulgaria, however, insist the move will help improve the country's economy, and reinforce its ties to the West and protect against Russia's influence. 'The political benefits are becoming increasingly significant, as the protests against the euro seem to bear the mark of the Kremlin,' 43-year-old musician Veselin Dimitrov told AFP in Sofia.
The green light comes as the euro has been gaining in value against the US dollar as President Donald Trump's protectionist trade policies shake trust in the US currency. Only 12 countries were part of the single currency area — including France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Greece — when the first euro bills and coins were rolled out on January 1, 2002. It gradually widened with Slovenia joining in 2007, Cyprus and Malta in 2008, Slovakia in 2009, Estonia in 2011, Latvia in 2014 then Lithuania in 2015.
Croatia was the last country to join in 2023, bringing the total to 20. Bulgaria wanted to adopt the euro sooner but Brussels judged its inflation was too high to meet the necessary criteria. EU states that want to join the single currency must demonstrate that their economy has converged with other eurozone countries and that they have their finances under control.
The conditions include holding inflation to no more than 1.5 percentage points higher than the rate of the three best-performing EU countries. When Brussels gave its backing in June, it said Bulgaria's average inflation rate during the 12 months to April 2025 was 2.7 percent, just below the needed level. – Agencies
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