Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026 • Hacker News Board

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#131

Post by guappa » Wed, Jul 09, 2025, 6:31 AM UTC

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…

Doesn't really matter because being in EU you can't print money, being euros or whatever local currency you have.

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#132

Post by wolvesechoes » Wed, Jul 09, 2025, 6:31 AM UTC

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…

Controlling currency is one of the most important aspects of being a sovereign country. Poland should adopt euro not sooner than Denmark and Sweden.

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#133

Post by 3836293648 » Wed, Jul 09, 2025, 6:32 AM UTC

beAbU wrote: post #101

v5v3 wrote: post #50

On the one hand, countries with different economic strengths having the same currency managed centrally isn't ideal. But on the other hand, anything that reduces the domination of the US dollar is welcome.

> On the one hand, countries with different economic strengths having the same currency managed centrally isn't ideal. Isn't this kind of what the US is doing though?

Yes, and it isn't exactly helping all of America, even if it is helping America as a whole

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#134

Post by ReptileMan » Wed, Jul 09, 2025, 6:32 AM UTC

perching_aix wrote: post #122

ReptileMan wrote: post #115

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.

> but those are the same people that made the plastic caps permanently attached to the bottles It's still hilarious to me how upset people are at this (or at least pretend to be).

It is inconvenience for all, with at best minimal benefits, but it makes couple of bureaucrats and greens feel good about themselves. People are upset because it shows Brussels disfunction in a nutshell.

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#135

Post by guappa » Wed, Jul 09, 2025, 6:33 AM UTC

vasco wrote: post #106

cik wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there's a reality for (visiting) consumers, Schengen has more value than the currency union, at least if you're not a user of cash. My experiences in non-Euro, Schengen countries is that all payment terminals offer me the choice to pay in Euro or the local currency. In many cases in tourist areas (of Czechia, Poland, and Bulgaria) I only encountered terminals that asked for payment in Euro.

Payment terminals can offer whatever currency exchanges they want, but usually it's just a way to fleece you on the spread, nobody is doing you any favors, it's just that whoever in the chain gets to perform the exchange gets to set the fees and the spread and most people get confused by currency exchange so it's in every middle man of the chain's interest to be the one to perform it and get the spread themselves.

While currency exchange offices are honest and fair?

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#136

Post by decimalenough » Wed, Jul 09, 2025, 6:33 AM UTC

ReptileMan wrote: post #126

decimalenough wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is a bad idea because...?

>The big economies of the eurozone have been in constant stagnation for the last 15 years. Eurozone doesn't know how to manage the economy successfully. The euro has been a failure. We went from somewhat parity with the US in 2006 to lagging quite behind them 20 years later.

I was referring to the caps being attached to bottles part.

Also, a strong currency does not equate to a strong or well-managed economy. (Unless you're Donald Trump.)

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#137

Post by chithanh » Wed, Jul 09, 2025, 6:33 AM UTC

druskacik wrote: post #81

cik wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there's a reality for (visiting) consumers, Schengen has more value than the currency union, at least if you're not a user of cash. My experiences in non-Euro, Schengen countries is that all payment terminals offer me the choice to pay in Euro or the local currency. In many cases in tourist areas (of Czechia, Poland, and Bulgaria) I only encountered terminals that asked for payment in Euro.

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.

Newspapers even advise travelers against terminals who try to trick paying in Euro instead of local currency. This is a rip-off.

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#138

Post by mrtksn » Wed, Jul 09, 2025, 6:36 AM UTC

ReptileMan wrote: post #118

mrtksn wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Tell me about an empire who conquered and held conquered land through asking politely. If you are able to come up with any, Ottomans certainly were not among those sure. That's why people don't like being invaded by empires. What do you think the first and the second Bulgarian Empires did exactly?

BTW Just like the way Bulgarians may not recognize that the Bulgarian Empire had a military and killed people in order to take others stuff and force them into things they wouldn't do unless defeated through slathering each other, Turks also tend not to understand that institutions like Devshirme or Janissary weren't liked by the people subjected to those.

For example In their mind Devshirme was an education program that gave the opportunity to minority children to have great careers and indeed that was the result(they don't think about how those kids were taken into the program).

Similarly Janissary were elite units with lots of sway in the administration, in their minds Janissaries were spoiled soldiers that are hard to satisfy.

Also, all the wives of the sultans were women from minorities. In the Turkish mind they were lucky women with a lot of influence on the empire. An entire genre of soap operas are made around this and they are very popular in the countries that used to be under the Ottoman rule. Including Bulgaria.

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#139

Post by guappa » Wed, Jul 09, 2025, 6:36 AM UTC

decimalenough wrote: post #121

epolanski wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

No, it really isn't. Although there are some pockets of poverty that come close.

Rich people in 3rd world countries do very well.

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#140

Post by Strom » Wed, Jul 09, 2025, 6:36 AM UTC

cik wrote: post #73

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…

I think there's a reality for (visiting) consumers, Schengen has more value than the currency union, at least if you're not a user of cash. My experiences in non-Euro, Schengen countries is that all payment terminals offer me the choice to pay in Euro or the local currency. In many cases in tourist areas (of Czechia, Poland, and Bulgaria) I only encountered terminals that asked for payment in Euro.

Schengen is incredibly useful, especially if you have to transit through several countries. It's also true that the decrease in cash usage has reduced the benefit of the euro.

However, the benefits of a single currency go beyond cash. It's also about understanding prices. You see a sign for coffee and it's 1199 Hungarian Forint -- or it's 14.99 Polish złoty. It's not clear at all what those numbers mean. Sure it's possible to pull out a currency calculator app to see what the rate is today and what it means in euros. It's not an insurmountable problem, but it is bigger than a mere inconvenience. It's constant friction on not really understanding what's going on. If those coffee prices were instead 2.99 € vs 3.53 €, you would immediately see that the Polish coffee is 20% more expensive.

--

As for the payment terminals offering to pay in Euro, as others have already noted, that's a scam. There is a hidden fee, usually around 3.5% - 5.0% of your total, that you get charged for this "convenience". Refusing this and paying in the listed currency will mean that your own bank will do the conversion, which is basically always going to be far cheaper.

Unfortunately this currency conversion scam is so lucrative that even big brands engage in it. Amazon for example asks what currency your card is in. If you select some currency other than what this sepecific Amazon's listed prices are in, well, you're in for another juicy hidden fee, this time to Amazon.