Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

ecb.europa.eu

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

241–250 of 340 posts

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#241

Post by menaerus »

perching_aix wrote: post #223
menaerus wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 s…

Ok, I wasn't making a comment about "rightwing grifters" although this is also certainly amenable to discussion but I was rather making a comment on why would some people find it contrary to what you said in your first comment - "It's still hilarious to me how upset people are at this (or at least pretend to be)."

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#242

Post by p2detar »

ingohelpinger wrote: post #43

the Euro has lost almost half of its purchasing power since its creation. bulgarians want the Euro so much, that they have to run tv ads, "we will become more wealthy by introducing the Euro", what? how will that happen, if you need more money to buy same or less products/services? lmao

Bulgarians are using the DM since 1997 and the Euro since 1999, they just call it Lev. We have a currency board that requires every single Lev be covered by foreign reserves which as of current consist of 90% EUR and 10% USD, JPY, GBP and others. We cannot print money to control interest rates, worse we have no say in ECB policies at the moment.

For the Lev to be independent we have to exit the currency board but this is madness, since our exports are already adjusted to EU countries where the currency is EUR anyway.

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#243

Post by wolvesechoes »

consp wrote: post #192
Svip wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 th…

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 being nationalistic means preferring that currency in your country is controlled by the government you have elected and not by ECB that you have zero control over, then yes.

Ask Greeks how much they enjoyed ECB involvement.

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#244

Post by bmicraft »

raxxorraxor wrote: post #226
dmos62 wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The core argument sounds a lot like "it's not true if I don't feel like it's true". Which of course decades of anti-eu parties and ads can have a massive impact on.

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#245

Post by csomar »

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.

I don't think a "third world country" or "developing country" mean anything any more. Turkey/Istanbul and Congo/Kinshasa are both developing countries/cities. One has issues but functional transportation, water/electricity, acceptable healthcare, etc. and the other is a literal shit-hole. The term was invented very long ago and now is no longer applicable.

Edit: Also third-world country mean something else completely since Turkey is first-world by original definition.

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#246

Post by Strom »

piltdownman wrote: post #236
Strom wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Non-Schengen EU Passports are basically the same thing for e.g. inter-railing or other journeys involving multiple border crossings. Also in Europe people use the likes of Revolut to set up virtual native currency accounts on the fly (with IBAN) with FX free transactions up to a certain level per month dependent on tier.

> Non-Schengen EU Passports are basically the same thing

It's not about passports, it's about border controls within the area. Before Schengen you would have to wait for hours and hours in a queue at the border. Now that border check doesn't exist anymore. The check doesn't exist regardless of what passport you have, there's just nobody there.

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#247

Post by N19PEDL2 »

dingaling wrote: post #239
anal_reactor wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another Polish here: truth is, whether we have a single currency or not doesn't matter as much as people think it does. For most people, it's about symbolism, not about practical economic consequences. I guarantee you that average person has no clue what it really means for the economy to adopt euro. BTW the argument "let's wait for our economy to catch up with Germany" is just deceitful because there will always be…

> Imagine a world where the entire European continent is a single political entity - we'd be unquestionable superpower Why would that be a good thing?

> Why would that be a good thing?

Ask Ukraine.

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#248

Post by perching_aix »

menaerus wrote: post #241
perching_aix wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 s…

Ok, I wasn't making a comment about "rightwing grifters" although this is also certainly amenable to discussion but I was rather making a comment on why would some people find it contrary to what you said in your first comment - "It's still hilarious to me how upset people are at this (or at least pretend to be)."

Oh okay, I misunderstood. Could have just replied to my initial comment then to be fair.

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#249

Post by raxxorraxor »

bmicraft wrote: post #244
raxxorraxor wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The core argument sounds a lot like "it's not true if I don't feel like it's true". Which of course decades of anti-eu parties and ads can have a massive impact on.

You don't have to engage with this kind of criticism but it isn't entirely recent or new nor too complicated ot understand the issues people might have.

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#250

Post by decimalenough »

wolvesechoes wrote: post #243
consp wrote: 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 being nationalistic means preferring that currency in your country is controlled by the government you have elected and not by ECB that you have zero control over, then yes. Ask Greeks how much they enjoyed ECB involvement.

The Danish krone is pegged to the euro, meaning it's already effectively controlled by the ECB.
Post reply on HN