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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

#141

Post by chithanh »

guappa wrote: post #135
vasco wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

If you use your bank's rate by paying in foreign currency then this is usually fair, at most they will add a 1% foreign currency transaction fee.

When it comes to exchanging cash, avoid currency exchanges at places like airports, tourist hotspots, etc. as they will usually offer worse rates than elsewhere.

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#142

Post by savolai »

Cu3PO42 wrote: post #130
decimalenough wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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".

To make things more complicated: it's not necessarily your home bank making the exchange, it can also be your card scheme (e.g. MasterCard/Visa/...). However, this is something you don't get a choice in. Your bank has an agreement with the scheme which foreign currencies are handled by whom. In any case, the rates used by the schemes are generally also pretty good.

Thanks.

The lack of direct documentation/instructions or link in the terminals to official rules strikes me as horrible ux. You basically just have to be in the know or know who to ask?

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#143

Post by Thlom »

wolvesechoes wrote: post #132
Roark66 wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Denmark have pegged the krone to the euro. They haven't adopted it, but tied themselves to the Euro. They still maintain control of their currency, but most of that control is used to maintain the value to the euro.

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#144

Post by guappa »

Ygg2 wrote: post #58
spookie wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know, there's Greece and Portugal. Mentioning these two as they got Troika following them. Portugal managed to get out of the storm, and debt is now below GDP. Greece took many bad steps trying to recover. And its debt shows that. Their governments have had a big part of the blame. Hell, at one point they didnt have enough money for citizens to withdraw from banks. And that was before Troika.

> And its debt shows that. Their governments have had a big part of the blame. Hell, at one point they didnt have enough money for citizens to withdraw from banks. Sure but so do the creditors. If you keep giving mortgages to anyone with a drivers license that's on you buddy. At almost no point is there enough money for citizens to withdraw their money. Modern banks don't keep their assets as cash.

> If you keep giving mortgages to anyone with a drivers license that's on you buddy.

Isn't this the USA system?

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#145

Post by kgwgk »

mrtksn wrote: post #86
throwpoaster wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless you were Armenian.

Not at all, Armenians were also an integral part of the Ottoman society and that’s how you still have plenty of Armenian cultural heritage dating back to Ottoman times in modern Turkey. You must be referring to the events around WW1 that led the loss of huge numbers of the Armenians through atrocities committed by the Ottomans which some say that it was a genocide, others say it was poorly managed suppression of a re…

> poorly managed suppression of a rebellion

Or a too well managed suppression.

“ We have been blamed for not making a distinction between guilty and innocent Armenians. [To do so] was impossible. Because of the nature of things, one who was still innocent today could be guilty tomorrow. The concern for the safety of Turkey simply had to silence all other concerns.”

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#146

Post by petre »

ingohelpinger wrote: post #127
petre wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

not true, almost the entire domestic production like veggies is exported and turkish, greece, dutch low quality stocks imported.

Yes, but it's still agri products sold for pennies. Compare that to motor vehicles, car parts, furniture and sanitary hardware that Poland exports. Also, I never ate Shopska salad made with Dutch tomatoes in Bulgaria, even in restaurants outside of Sofia. I can tell the difference, they almost always served the good ripe stuff that has taste, not the watery green variety or the huge Greek tomatoes with air gaps inside.

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#147

Post by shakow »

mrtksn wrote: post #86
throwpoaster wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless you were Armenian.

Not at all, Armenians were also an integral part of the Ottoman society and that’s how you still have plenty of Armenian cultural heritage dating back to Ottoman times in modern Turkey. You must be referring to the events around WW1 that led the loss of huge numbers of the Armenians through atrocities committed by the Ottomans which some say that it was a genocide, others say it was poorly managed suppression of a re…

> others say it was poorly managed suppression of a rebellion in a dying empire

I don't think many say that at all outside of Turkey/Azerbaijan/Pakistan.

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#148

Post by ktsangop »

I hope Bulgaria and the EU have learned from past mistakes (I don't think they have). While EU and the Euro had good intentions and prospect, it turned out to be a disaster for some of us. Greece is in a recession for more than 16 years now, with no visible exit, because (one of many reasons of course) it couldn't devalue its currency back in 2009.

Now we might speculate that Greece couldn't have avoided this, even if it weren't for the Euro, but having lived this from the inside, I think that it wouldn't be that painful.

Countries like Japan, Italy and even USA nowdays, have comparable debt to GDP indexes, but none of them (as far as I undestand) have had this kind of dorp in living standards, price inflation or increase in poverty rates since 2008.

Best of luck to our Bulgarian neighbours. They are going to need it!

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#149

Post by ses1984 »

guappa wrote: post #135
vasco wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

That’s not the alternative, the alternative is to let your bank or credit card processor handle the exchange instead of the terminal operator.

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#150

Post by ReptileMan »

mrtksn wrote: post #138
ReptileMan wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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…

Oh of course. This doesn't invalidates the bad blood. This doesn't mean that I would be sad if Turkey is humiliated and Hagia Sofia becomes once again orthodox church once again. And Istanbul is renamed to Constantinople.
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