Lev's final performance
Bulgaria's path towards adopting the euro has been marked by a mix of progress and controversy. The legislative groundwork for euro adoption was laid with the law on euro introduction being adopted in August 2024. However, the journey has been far from smooth.
The Bulgarian Socialist party has expressed scepticism about euro adoption, while GERB (Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria) and other centrist parties have voiced their support. This political divide mirrors the split public opinion in Bulgaria, with concerns about potential price increases being a recurring theme.
President Rumen Radev proposed a referendum on euro adoption on May 12, 2025, but his initiative was met with criticism from the government, rejected by Parliament, and later, the Bulgarian National Assembly speaker, Nataliya Kiselova, stated it violated both the constitution and Bulgaria's European Union treaty obligations.
The constitutional court had previously rejected a similar petition for a referendum on adopting the euro.
The designs for Bulgaria's euro coins have been approved, featuring culturally significant symbols. If Bulgaria does join the eurozone in 2026, as planned, this is anticipated to positively influence the country's medium-term economic outlook, according to the World Bank.
Bulgaria's GDP growth accelerated to 2.8% in 2024, up from 1.9% in 2023, and annual average inflation declined to 2.6% in February 2025, comfortably meeting the Maastricht criterion of 2.7%. These economic improvements, coupled with Bulgaria's low public debt-to-GDP ratio, which ranks among the lowest in the EU, less than half the 60% threshold required by the criteria, suggest a strong foundation for euro adoption.
However, the fate of Bulgaria's euro bid now rests on the upcoming convergence reports from the European Commission and European Central Bank, expected in June. The European Central Bank's 2024 convergence report concluded that Bulgaria did not meet the criteria for euro adoption due to high inflation.
Lessons on euro adoption can be drawn from Croatia, which became the eurozone's 20th member on January 1, 2023. The impact of the euro changeover on Croatian consumer prices was relatively small and contributed only 0.2 to 0.4 percentage points to inflation. Euro adoption has spurred Croatia's additional trade and financial integration into the euro area and has made Croatia more attractive to investments.
The World Bank forecasts that economic growth will slow down in 2025-2026 due to global trade uncertainty, potentially impacting Bulgaria through indirect effects on the wider EU economy and global activity. Domestic risks remain in Bulgaria, including an unabated growth of credit to households and an ongoing construction boom, requiring careful monitoring as the economy slows.
In February 2025, approximately 1,000 nationalist protesters clashed with police in Sofia, demanding the government abandon plans to join the eurozone. Despite these challenges, Bulgaria remains committed to its Eurozone ambitions, with its planned entry scheduled for January 1, 2026, following its full entry into the Schengen Area on January 1st, 2025.
The search results did not provide information about the name of the minister who criticized President Rumen Radev's initiative for a referendum on the introduction of the European short sign as an attempt to sabotage Bulgaria's Eurozone ambitions.
