The 140-year-old Bulgarian lev is now history. The euro will not make people richer, but it will protect them from catastrophic political decisions. And President Radev did not ignore the topic in his New Year's speech. By Emilia Milcheva.
The 140-year-old Bulgarian lev is now history. As of January 1, Bulgaria replaced the "seatbelt" of the currency board with the "air cushion" of the euro. The introduction of the new currency is unlikely to go smoothly, but in a few months the market and incomes will adapt.
The euro itself will not make people richer, but it will protect them from disastrous political decisions. Investment and tighter control over public spending can make them richer - together with a stable currency, lower interest rates and a brighter economy.
Switching on shock absorbers
The euro cannot stop corruption and the distribution of public resources in party "hoop". But fiscal discipline and supervision of Bulgaria's banking system are already under European control - a barrier against financial crises such as those of the 1990s and the collapse of the fourth largest bank in 2014, which Corpbank became.
For Bulgaria, which spent almost 28 years in a currency board, the transition to the eurozone at the fixed exchange rate of 1.95583 leva per 1 euro was the smoothest and safest transition possible. If the country had freed itself from the restrictions of the currency board earlier, the fate of the national currency would have once again fallen into the hands of politicians and the BNB. Who can be sure that another devaluation would not have happened!
The national catastrophe in the winter of 1996-1997 and the imposition of the currency board were the result of the decisions of an irresponsible and greedy political elite. The BNB, heavily dependent on this elite, allowed excessive lending, including to state-owned companies and private banks that had sprung up, and launched the money printing press.
Today, Bulgaria enters the eurozone without a budget for 2026. This is not the ideal option, but it is the lesser evil than a bad start to the project that unleashed the protests. The extended budget limited political waste at the riskiest moment.
Thus, the first budget in euros will be prepared after the real effect on the state's revenues and expenditures is seen.
Presidential manipulations
There was no way President Rumen Radev could pass over the euro in his New Year's speech. He assessed its introduction as "the last milestone in Bulgaria's integration into the EU", but the emphasis was that it should have been done after "a consultation with the people".
Radev presented the refusal of a referendum as a symptom "of the deep rift between the political class and the people, which was confirmed by the mass protests throughout the country". Thus, the president manipulatively equated the protests of thousands of pro-European citizens with his own reservations about the euro. This is an attempt to use public discontent as legitimization for a thesis that it does not actually support. A small number of opponents of the euro appeared at the first protest in Sofia on November 26, individual groups tried in other cities, but they were no longer present at the subsequent demonstrations.
When he says that the government did not want to hear the citizens about the euro, the president ignores the fact that in 2024 the Constitutional Court (CC) ruled that there was no need for such a consultation. The constitutional judges' motives were that the law prohibits a referendum from resolving issues regulated in international treaties concluded by Bulgaria. The plebiscite was possible before their ratification, that is, before 2007, when the country joined the EU.
Euro for political use
In the last year of his last presidential term, Radev tried to unite the opponents of the euro, most of whom also sympathize with the regime in Russia, with the protesters against corruption and the conquered state. This is an attempt to stitch together incompatible causes, in which pro-European public discontent is used as a cover to legitimize anti-European suggestions.
Rumen Radev supposedly focuses on democratic deficits, mentioning the lack of a referendum on the euro. In reality, however, he replaces the conversation with suggestions that cast doubt on the strategic choice made back in 1997 - after the lev sank.
Radev is no longer an arbiter, but is looking for a field of influence after the presidency. The topic of the euro allows him to position himself "against" the status quo, without being formally against the EU, and to speak on behalf of the "people" against the ruling party. In addition, he is trying to bring together incompatible audiences – Eurosceptics, the systematically dissatisfied, and pro-European protesters against corruption. This is a classic strategy for a political coalition, without having yet gone out into the field with a party and found allies.
Although the topic of the euro has ended with joining the eurozone, it can still be instrumentalized.
For the Governor of the BNB Dimitar Radev, the euro "is not just a currency – it is a sign of belonging: that your place is not on the periphery, but in a space of common rules, trust and responsibility". And the president is trying to present it as an undemocratically imposed decision of the authorities. But now neither he nor anyone else can prevent it.
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This comment expresses the personal opinion of the author and may not coincide with the positions of the Bulgarian editorial office and the State News Agency as a whole.