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Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

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221–230 of 340 posts

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, after introducing the euro, and everything overnight becomes ~2x more expensive, salaries will match that trajectory and eventually also become ~2x larger, almost universally no matter the job type? Did I get your argument right? I ask because I don't think this actually has been the case with pretty much any EU country. From what I have seen, salaries will certainly adjust themselves, and they will grow, but the…

Have you looked into Lithuania? (I don't know about other countries, only live in this one.) Thought maybe I understood the discussion wrong, because Lithuania does have a minimum wage that is government mandated.

I haven't looked into each EU country but it's difficult to imagine that a salary of X * K EUR gross will become 2X * K EUR gross just because the country has switched to EUR. It's delusional at best.

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#222
post #96

Doubling of the prices overnight coming like in Croatia and many countries before it?

Yes there's an inflation shock at the beginning, then salaries and everything adjusts.

...and trees start bearing sweets.

You have to back such claims with data. Also consider what happens in the said adjustment lag and how long it lasts.

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's a taxpayer's money so why wouldn't the taxpayers have a point if they think that their money is not spent best Not what I said. > in the context of the global situation, not really efficient at all in making the quality of life of EU citizens any better? Why would all decisions have to be this massively efficient slamdunk of an idea? Things can even be downright specifically bad yet still be generally useful i…

> Not what I said. It's exactly what you were questioning and which is why I gave you the concrete example why people get attached to this particular non-problem. As for the rest of your comment, I think it went a little bit over your head.

> It's exactly what you were questioning

My remark about most people who bring up Brussels unprompted being rightwing grifters really was just that, and nothing else.

It is not lost on me that like anything, they can and should be critiqued as well.

It's just not really being done, and when it is done, it's usually coming from a place of ulterior motives and ill faith (for now), and so is fairly uncommon. So it's a strange thing to claim that that's what "people think of". No it isn't, not unless you're in the aforementioned circles, which is not the general populace at all.

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#224
post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The EU institution because of pragmatic and systematic properties. Ultimately to say something is democratic or not is a subjective opinion, but EU proponents have made the mistake to brush such criticism away. Since then the EU is mostly developing in a wrong direction.

Who is not democratically elected? The EU Parliament is directly elected. The EU Council is comprised of EU country head of states, which are all directly elected. The EU Council and EU Parliament then elect the EU Comission. Sounds democratic to me.

To you it may be democratic enough. Not for me and the parliament lacks legislative initiative which in reality means the commission steers the ship.

It is more of a bureaucratic technocracy with democratic fig leaves. People often attribute competence to technocracies, but that is an illusion.

Also I don't believe you can move up government function to layers above your national government and still call it representative.

In reality the culture and circumstances of parliament members is too far removed from the voters. I also cannot know the other representatives, so my voting decision will always be restricted to a shallow popularity contest. But as explained, this doesn't matter, because the elected representatives cannot implement any agenda.

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#225

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.

> It is inconvenience for all

Are you 80 or something? It takes two tries to adjust and understand that it is much superior to unattached cap.

The whole thing is a big meme to make fun of EU, because there’s barely anything else to complain about.

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#226
post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The EU institution because of pragmatic and systematic properties. Ultimately to say something is democratic or not is a subjective opinion, but EU proponents have made the mistake to brush such criticism away. Since then the EU is mostly developing in a wrong direction.

How is democracy subjective? Because most democracy is indirect?

Democracy is a real democracy if voters feel represented. Perhaps there is a voter here and there that has an objective perspective if representation is enough or not. But I wouldn't bet on it.

But you said yourself, that there are different lavels of directness. That is the core argument where everyone has different expectations.

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

It's a taxpayer's money so why wouldn't the taxpayers have a point if they think that their money is not spent best and, in the context of the global situation, not really efficient at all in making the quality of life of EU citizens any better? To paraphrase this differently: if I as an investor gave you 100M EUR and 24 months, would you be happy to spend it for changing a frigging cap on the bottle or would you rat…

I am an EU taxpayer. Caps stay bolted on.

> To paraphrase this differently: if I as an investor gave you 100M EUR and 24 months, would you be happy to spend it for changing a frigging cap on the bottle or would you rather invest that money and time+people resources on something else?

Grifter 101 – “think about what we’d be able to achieve if you did X instead of Y, comrade!”.

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#228
post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This all reads as symbolic nationalist policies with an added burocracy thus costing more than it should. "We need own coin to control [insert nationalist thing here]" but in practice you won't and never did. The last time I was in Denmark my bank nicely charged me for the conversion despite the coin being fixed to the euro. It is just a money costing machine which adds no value.

If (when?) there's another Euro crisis, being pegged gives you a lot more room to manoeuvre than being actually in the Euro. If necessary de-pegging would be disruptive but very much possible, if you're fully in the Euro then you are riding the train to its destination whether you like it or not

De-pegging would require selling your euro reserves and buy other currencies. I wouldn’t call it disruptive but a disaster. You’ll end up getting enormous loans that generations after you will have to pay.

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#229

If abandoning your own currency and adopting Euros was such a big deal, the UK would have done it decades ago (while it was still a part of the EU). This benefits the bigger economies, at the expense of the smaller economies. Any fiscal policy is dictated by the bigger countries, and with identical currencies, the only policy left for Bulgarians is to cut wages in public sector. This will impact local economy, and ri…

Britain is a country with a massive special snowflake syndrome, and wanted opt outs of pretty much everything in the EU (and eventually quit the union itself). Just next door, Ireland adopted the Euro and is doing well.

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#230

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…

Success, yes it has survived. But it has cost a lot to people and countries.

I'm not an expert but this is the best value for the cost if you ask me.
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