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Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

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Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#161

Post by perching_aix »

ReptileMan wrote: post #134
perching_aix wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

But it really isn't that inconvenient at all, and some of the caps are outright better now than the crap that preceded them. Bit like how the toilet water use regulations turned out.

I even find myself vaguely annoyed now whenever I drink from glass bottles, that those caps are loose.

> People are upset because it shows Brussels disfunction

Reminds me to that meme where the debated point is what OS is better, and the conclusion is that normal people don't talk about operating systems. The only people I ever hear mention Brussels unprompted are rightwing grifters.

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#162

Post by jojobas »

flimflamm wrote: post #57
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…

Except if you are a Finnish person who lives right next to Sweden (SEK) and Norway (NOK) who are not using Euro (and Russia but that's a different story).

Was it any easier when Finland was using the markka?

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#163

Post by chgs »

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.

It’s the 21st century, I pay for everything by card, currency barriers are way below Schengen and language barriers

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#164

Post by mrtksn »

shakow wrote: post #147
mrtksn wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

True, I'm also inclined to believe that it started as a suppression attempt that ended up being a genocide as "an easy solution" to make a problem go away as the dying empire wasn't able to contain it.

I recall reading the communications of some Ottoman officials trying to cash out the life insurance policies of the Armenians. Pure evil, honestly.

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#165

Post by PunchTornado »

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…

who is non-democratic and why?

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#166

Post by CjHuber »

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…

But you have a much higher growth rate than Germany, why in the world would you like for Poland to match Germany‘s miserable growth rate

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#167

Post by vladvasiliu »

Strom wrote: post #140
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.

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 po…

This isn't my experience, so I think people should pay attention to their specific situation.

Granted, I haven't recently been to any EU country without the Euro, but my main bank charges extortionate conversion fees, 2.sth%, with a ridiculous minimum per transaction.

A few months ago, I've ordered something off Amazon UK (while in the UK) and the conversion they offered was very close to the official GBP / EUR exchange rate, way below my bank's minimum. The price wasn't high, either, on the order of 10 €.

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#168

Post by omnimus »

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.

Yeah never use that offer to pay euros its just scam. Get some travel card like Wise you will save a lot of money and get better feel for the prices.

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#169

Post by PunchTornado »

marton78 wrote: post #102
Maxion wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder why this comment is at the top of the HN post. Over the years I've seen a lot of missinformation on this topic that follows pretty much this exact train of thought. Why would countries join the EU and the Euro if it didn't benefit them? The baltics have all grown massively since the 90s when they became independent, and even though they all were on nice trajectories they still all decided to join the EU and…

> Why would countries join the EU and the Euro if it didn't benefit them? Joining benefits the country's elites, rather than its general populace -- and it's these elites who decide whether to join. Bulgaria joining will weaken the Euro, which benefits big, export-oriented economies such as Germany and France. This is how the Euro has always worked: the big economies dilute their trade surpluses at the cost of smalle…

no proofs, just rephrasing what anti-eu propaganda says. also it is nice how people think they are able to dismiss a policy like the euro in 2 sentences thinking they understand it. probably without a phd in economics either.

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#170

Post by Svip »

Thlom wrote: post #143
wolvesechoes wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

That's because the powers that be want the euro, but the people didn't. They were asked in 1992, 1993 and 2000; and effectively they said no to the euro every time (yes, I know; in 1993, the euro was specifically opted out, but the fact that it was approved when the year before a referendum with the euro was rejected suggests – at least partially – that it was a rejection of the euro (among other things)). Denmark thus came into the EU with 4 opt-outs (one of which has since been rescinded (defence) and one which turned out not to matter (union citizenship)), and they can only be removed with referendum (see for instance the euro one in 2000).

Prior to the adoption of the euro, the Danish crown was pegged to the D-mark (since about the mid-1980s), because Germany was the biggest export market for Denmark (still is), and thus having a currency that's stable towards what the Germans are using has been good for Danish exports (less sure how relevant that still is). (Sidebar; had the original motivation of Alternative für Deutschland been successful and abandoned the Euro for a return to the D-mark (neumark?), it would have put Denmark in an awkward position.)

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