Bulgaria has just become the 21st country in the European Union to adopt the euro – an event that has been greeted with as much joy as fear since this Balkan nation joined the EU 19 years ago, writes the Spanish newspaper "Pais".
"I withdrew 100 euros to look at the banknotes and celebrate", admits 58-year-old programmer Mariana Valkova with great joy, after dancing a Bulgarian folk dance with her friends on New Year's Eve in the center of the capital.
At midnight, many citizens gathered, ignoring the sub-zero temperatures, to celebrate the entry into the eurozone in front of the Bulgarian National Bank building, where the coins of the new currency were projected, saying goodbye to the leva, used since 1880.
"Our entry into the eurozone will give a boost to business and will bring us even closer to Europe," predicts Valkova.
On January 1, shops were open, even though it was a public holiday. In some places, the new euros were not enough and sellers were forced to ask customers to pay by card, the newspaper notes.
Although the actual introduction is now, for two months now, merchants have already been showing the change of the local currency to the euro, which means that the price in euros almost always ends in pennies.
"We round down in euros", says Nina Zareva, owner of a sock shop. The fifty-seven-year-old woman believes that the new currency will boost the economy, which, according to her, has been severely affected by the political crisis.
Bulgaria is the country with the lowest per capita income in the EU (11,330 euros in 2024, according to Eurostat data). In early December, the country witnessed mass protests, led by Generation Z, against the budget, which citizens believed was fueling growing corruption. This led to the collective resignation of the three-party conservative government.
New elections are expected in March, the eighth in four years.
"We need steps that will give us hope, and without a doubt the euro gives us that", says Zareva - in perfect Italian, notes the "Pais" newspaper.
On the other hand, other traders expect price increases.
"Our suppliers have already increased our prices, so we did the same, although only by about 20 stotinki for now," explains Maria Doncheva, owner of the De vin bar, which specializes in Bulgarian wines. The 63-year-old shopkeeper says she knows of many establishments that have decided to close for a few days to avoid confusion with the change.
"The situation will normalize in about two weeks, but it will be difficult at first because we don't have enough available funds to meet demand," she adds.
Many stalls are closed at the Women's Market, the largest in Sofia. Those that are open believe that the lack of euros could cause them problems, but they have also done so as a sign of protest.
"We started giving change back in euros, but we immediately had to go back to leva," says Nikolay Spasov, a fruit seller, as he shows the box in which he keeps euros. "Consumers are asking if they can pay with the old currency and, of course, we have no choice but to accept it", he added.
The single currency was first introduced in 12 countries on January 1, 2002 — among them Spain — and since then 350 million Europeans have used it. In 2020, Bulgaria entered the so-called waiting room of the single currency, together with Croatia, which introduced it in 2023. "Now it will finally be able to participate in decision-making within this monetary union", said Georgi Angelov, an economist at the "Open Society" Institute in Sofia. Among the benefits, he points to smoother trade, lower financing costs and more stable prices.
Small and medium-sized enterprises are estimated to save around €500 million in foreign exchange fees, and the sector that will gain the most in the Black Sea region will be tourism, which generates 8% of the national GDP, around €110 billion.
Since 2021, successive governments in the country of 6.4 million have advocated joining the eurozone, hoping that it would boost the economy, strengthen ties with the West and protect it from Russian influence, notes "Pais". However, Bulgarians have long been divided on the issue. Many fear that the introduction of the euro could lead to higher prices and add to political instability. According to the latest Eurobarometer, 49% of the population opposes the euro. Despite all this, President Rumen Radev has welcomed entry into the eurozone as the "final step" in Bulgaria's integration into the Community family, although he expressed regret that a referendum was not held.
Since the end of December, queues of people have filled exchange offices and banks. They are exchanging money into euros, but also buying gold. For six months, Bulgarians will be able to exchange up to 10,000 euros without commission and without having to prove the origin of the money. After that, they will have to do it at the BNB.
"The euro will harm the economy because the eurozone has a highly inflationary policy; institutions are not paying attention to the approaching debt crisis, and smaller eurozone countries, such as Bulgaria, risk being ignored due to their internal political peculiarities," says Trayan Damyanov, who has been waiting for more than half an hour and is not likely to be served soon. The thirty-four-year-old insurance broker, who admits that he will buy gold because he considers it a safer haven than the euro, emphasizes that inflation is high. Although official data puts it at 5%, Damyanov assures that the impact is greater: "For many foods and essential goods, the increases are around 20%; people are aware of this, although the statistics do not reflect it".
Institutions are trying to dispel these concerns. "There was strong political resistance to joining the euro, even from parties that were part of the government coalitions, but we managed to control the economic situation by increasing wages and pensions and preparing a plan to reduce the deficit to 2% and limit inflation", claims Assen Vassilev, a three-time finance minister since 2021. He is responsible for preparing the country for joining the eurozone, notes "Pais".
"The euro brings low interest rates, lower investment risk; "in transaction costs, we will save about one billion euros a year, since 60% of our exports and imports come from the eurozone," adds Vassilev, the current leader of the opposition, part of the "Continue the Change" party (which the publication defines as located on the center-left of the political spectrum), in coalition with "Democratic Bulgaria."
One of the undoubtedly positive elements after the currency change is the lightening of incomes. "If we look at the amount of money in circulation, coins and banknotes in leva have decreased by 7.5 billion euros in one year; and between Christmas and New Year, over 500 million entered the banking system," claims the former finance minister. The real estate market has also absorbed a significant portion of this illegal money.
"Housing is worth 50% more than before, as many people thought it was the time to buy it in case prices jumped with the introduction of the euro, so essentially a large part of this money went there, and the rest - in the banking system," Vassilev emphasizes.