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Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

ecb.europa.eu

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Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#111

Post by mytailorisrich »

Roark66 wrote: post #108
decimalenough wrote: post #22

Credit where credit is due: the EU gets a lot of flack for being bureaucratic, hidebound, sclerotic, whatever, but the single currency has been a success and it's still expanding, 26 years after its creation. Also, the addition of Bulgaria means it's almost possible to travel from Spain to Greece entirely through the Eurozone, with only a thin sliver of Serbia or Macedonia in the way. (Assuming we include Montenegro…

Polish here, very much against adopting the euro until our standard of living and growth rate matches Germany (no at least not for next 10 years). Why? Because the disadvantages far out weight the benefits for developing countries. The biggest issue is giving up one of the biggest instrument of control over the economy to a supra-national non-democratic organisation. Surely the monetary policy will follow what is bes…

Exactly right.

The euro has benefited countries like Germany a lot but not necessarily all countries.

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#113

Post by epolanski »

csomar wrote: post #91
petesergeant wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Two things that surprised me when I spent a couple of months in Bulgaria: * Bulgarian support for the EU is pretty low and people didn't think it made their life much better * Bulgarian support for Russia is very high, like 50%, probably due to their historic help in kicking out the Turks

Bulgaria economy and the average citizen quality of life are not that correlated. You can have one improving while the other is deteriorating. We saw what happened in the US when such a gap became wide enough.

By many metrics (life expectancy, inequality, literacy, poverty rates) the US is a third world country.

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#114

Post by petesergeant »

epolanski wrote: post #113
csomar wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bulgaria economy and the average citizen quality of life are not that correlated. You can have one improving while the other is deteriorating. We saw what happened in the US when such a gap became wide enough.

By many metrics (life expectancy, inequality, literacy, poverty rates) the US is a third world country.

Even grok would call you out on this.

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#115

Post by ReptileMan »

Probably a bad idea. The big economies of the eurozone have been in constant stagnation for the last 15 years. To me it seems that Bulgaria has jumped on Titanic on Qweenstown. I do hope that I am wrong, but those are the same people that made the plastic caps permanently attached to the bottles.

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#116

Post by petre »

Roark66 wrote: post #108
decimalenough wrote: post #22

Credit where credit is due: the EU gets a lot of flack for being bureaucratic, hidebound, sclerotic, whatever, but the single currency has been a success and it's still expanding, 26 years after its creation. Also, the addition of Bulgaria means it's almost possible to travel from Spain to Greece entirely through the Eurozone, with only a thin sliver of Serbia or Macedonia in the way. (Assuming we include Montenegro…

Polish here, very much against adopting the euro until our standard of living and growth rate matches Germany (no at least not for next 10 years). Why? Because the disadvantages far out weight the benefits for developing countries. The biggest issue is giving up one of the biggest instrument of control over the economy to a supra-national non-democratic organisation. Surely the monetary policy will follow what is bes…

You can't possibly compare Poland to Bulgaria with 1/8 Poland's GDP and 17% its population. For Bulgaria the Euro is completely fine, as the Lev has been pegged to the Deutche Mark and later the Euro for ages. It's exports are basically raw materials and grain. Most of the other stuff they produce is sold domestically. I think I've only seen Bulgarian sunflower oil, mineral water, ketchup and pasta in stores outside the country. For a state with so feeble exports and a pegged currency it really doesn't matter, only adds up currency conversion fees. They might want to attract more tourism and investments.

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#117

Post by decimalenough »

savolai wrote: post #105
druskacik wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's usually better to pay in the local currency than Euro. The currency still has to be exchanged somewhere, and the banks usually have better rates than the terminal operators.

Hm I always wondered about what this choice actually translates to, what’s the underlying logic determining how what I pay in -> where conversion gets made?

It's called DCC and you are legally required to be offered a choice. If you choose the local currency, your home bank does the exchange and the rate is basically always better. If you choose your home currency, the terminal operator does the exchange at a terrible rate and often slaps on a hefty fee for the "convenience".

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#118

Post by ReptileMan »

mrtksn wrote: post #56
petesergeant wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Two things that surprised me when I spent a couple of months in Bulgaria: * Bulgarian support for the EU is pretty low and people didn't think it made their life much better * Bulgarian support for Russia is very high, like 50%, probably due to their historic help in kicking out the Turks

It’s also more of a generation thing though. The older people are nostalgic about the past and their youth and for a country that experienced 2 decades of very low birth rates that’s the 70s and 80s and those years are under the communist rule and very good years for Bulgaria as the country was experiencing economic boom from computers and electronics manufacturing. Also, under under the Communist rule supported by U…

>that Turks are the absolute evil

Devshirme, Janissary corps, Batak massacre? There is huge blood debt that is owed to the Balkans and Armenia by the Ottoman Empire and their successor states.

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#119

Post by ingohelpinger »

epolanski wrote: post #107
ingohelpinger wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the same treaty says state financing through the ECB is illegal, but they do it anyway.

They don't? All EU emitted debt goes towards specific projects.

what? the ECB is buying state bonds. maybe thats the reason the ECB is its own state, no authorities allowed to enter the building. wondering how they will audit the ECB. ahh right, they wont. :)

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#120

Post by bluecalm »

joules77 wrote: post #32
chrismorgan wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Yet you wont find any of those subunits complaining about their central bank setting monetary policy. This is ludicrously wrong of India, and I understand enough of human nature and economics that I’d be surprised if it were true of China, though it may be more suppressed. Monetary policy is government policy. The ruling party is seldom uniformly popular across their entire domain. Perhaps you’re more familiar with…

But is anyone asking for their own local currency or central bank? If not why not?

In many places people wouldn't ask because it's completely unrealistic to get it. Regions struggle to get a bit more independence from the central government. An own currency is completely unrealistic. Your argument doesn't work.
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