Bulgaria Adopts Euro But Half the Country Didn’t Want It — Here’s What It Means for Working People

So Bulgaria ditched the lev at midnight on New Year’s Day and officially became the 21st member of the eurozone. If you’re reading this from Detroit or Cleveland or anywhere else where working folks have watched the folks in suits make decisions for them, this story might sound familiar.

Here’s the thing that keeps nagging at me: the polls showed about 57% of Bulgarians didn’t want this. Not a small margin. A clear majority. And yet here we are, celebrating what ECB President Christine Lagarde called Bulgaria joining “the euro family.” Family dinners must be awkward when more than half the kids didn’t want to come.

Let me back up and explain what actually happened, because the details matter.

Bulgaria joined the European Union back in 2007. Nearly 20 years ago. The understanding was always that they’d eventually adopt the euro — it’s technically required of all EU members except Denmark, which negotiated an opt-out. But “eventually” kept getting pushed back because Bulgaria couldn’t meet the economic criteria.

The main issue? Inflation. The eurozone has strict rules. You can’t join if your inflation rate is too high relative to other members. Bulgaria kept missing the target. They finally got their numbers in line in early 2025, requested an off-cycle assessment, and got the green light in June.

The conversion rate is fixed at 1.95583 Bulgarian lev per euro. Both currencies will be accepted through January 31st, and prices have to be displayed in both until August.

The Part Nobody In Brussels Wants to Talk About

Bulgaria is the poorest country in the EU. Not by a little. By a lot. Average wages are significantly below the eurozone standard. Food prices rose 5% year-on-year in November — more than double the eurozone average, according to the National Statistical Institute.

So when Bulgarians express concern about inflation after euro adoption, they’re not being irrational. They’re remembering what happened in other countries. They’re looking at their grocery bills. They’re doing basic math.

“Unfortunately, prices no longer correspond to those in levs,” pastry shop owner Turgut Ismail, 33, told reporters, noting prices have already started surging.

This is the part that kills me. Every time a country joins the eurozone, the official line is that there won’t be price increases. And every time, working people notice their money doesn’t go as far as it used to. Croatia went through this in 2023. Same story.

The Democracy Question

President Rumen Radev — that’s Bulgaria’s president, not the prime minister — pushed for a referendum on euro adoption. Makes sense, right? Major economic decision affecting every citizen? Let the people vote.

Parliament rejected it. Ninety-eight votes against, 68 in favor, 46 abstentions.

Meanwhile, polls from Alpha Research showed that 63% of Bulgarians wanted a referendum on the issue. And if they’d gotten one? A majority would have voted no.

Radev didn’t hold back. He called the refusal to hold a referendum “one of the dramatic symptoms of the deep divide between the political class and the people.”

Sound familiar? It should. We’ve seen this movie before in America. Trade deals that outsourced manufacturing jobs. Financial deregulation that benefited Wall Street but cratered Main Street. Decisions made by people who’d never feel the consequences.

Why The Government Wanted It Anyway

To be fair — and I try to be fair even when I’m skeptical — there are legitimate arguments for euro adoption.

Bulgarian businesses that trade across borders won’t have to worry about exchange rate fluctuations anymore. Tourism operators get a boost because visitors won’t need to convert currency. The Bulgarian National Bank now has a seat on the ECB governing council, which means at least theoretically more influence over monetary policy.

And here’s something the pro-euro crowd points to: over 80% of Bulgarian imports were already denominated in euros anyway. The lev has been pegged to the euro (and before that, the Deutsche Mark) since 1997. So in some ways, this is just making official what was already functionally true.

Prime Minister Rossen Jeliazkov was pretty excited. “We did it!” he posted on X. “We thank all institutions, partners and everyone whose efforts made this landmark moment possible.”

The Timing Problem

Here’s what really gets me about the timing: Bulgaria is heading into its eighth election in five years. Anti-corruption protests toppled the conservative-led government in mid-December. The country is in political chaos.

And in the middle of all that instability, they made an irreversible economic decision that a majority of citizens didn’t support.

The Bulgarian lev first showed up in 1880. That’s 145 years of history. The national symbol — a lion — is on the currency’s name. And it’s gone now, replaced by euro coins featuring the Madara Rider and Saint Ivan of Rila.

Will Bulgaria be better off in five years? Ten years? Maybe. The eurozone isn’t going anywhere, and being part of a stable currency block has real advantages, especially for a country that’s dealt with economic volatility.

But I’ve watched too many “for their own good” decisions blow up in working people’s faces to celebrate this uncritically. The suits in Brussels are happy. The suits in Sofia are happy.

The folks working in pastry shops who’ve already noticed their prices going up? They’ll let us know how it’s working out for them.

Ethan Cole covers business and economics with a focus on working-class impact. Previously reported from Detroit. Contact: ecole@reportdoor.com.