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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

#321

Post by alkyon »

lifestyleguru wrote: post #251
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…

You are overcomplicating this. Poland is nepotist kleptocracy, EU and NATO membership away from Belarus. They should adopt euro since yesterday, it's strategic goal in line with membership in EU and NATO. Switzerland can have their own currency, where inflation over 2% is a scandal. Sweden can have their own currency, they produce their own cruisers, submarines, fighter jets, and artillery. Poland kicked out their la…

Inflation rose everywhere in Europe due to the economic shock caused by the pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

In 2022 inflation rate in Poland was 14% compared to 8% in Spain for example.

2024 figure (for Poland) was down to 4%.

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#322

Post by alkyon »

lifestyleguru wrote: post #251
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…

You are overcomplicating this. Poland is nepotist kleptocracy, EU and NATO membership away from Belarus. They should adopt euro since yesterday, it's strategic goal in line with membership in EU and NATO. Switzerland can have their own currency, where inflation over 2% is a scandal. Sweden can have their own currency, they produce their own cruisers, submarines, fighter jets, and artillery. Poland kicked out their la…

Citation needed on how corruption levels in a EU country depend on adopting the common currency

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#323

Post by dmos62 »

mc32 wrote: post #300
dmos62 wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Greece underreported its debt until 2009: i.e. it borrowed too much while lying about how much it's already borrowed. That's the main difference between Greece on the one hand and Italy, Portugal on the other, in my eyes. Italy and Portugal too suffered a public debt crises, but they weren't so blatant about it. I sympathize with the common Greek man, and I wish their crises had been managed with more success, but I…

I dunno. Pretty sure creditors aren't innocent little old ladies. They're financial killers and knew the situation but also knew they had Germany and the Troika behind them to save them if things went south (as they did). It was win-win for them. The economy miraculously grows: win! the economy sours: win!

Sovereign debtors also knew that them being part of the Eurozone gave them better borrowing rates because creditors perceived Eurozone as low risk. Both the creditors and the debtors believed that they won't chaotically default because of the Eurozone, because that would endanger the Eurozone. If that were all, the creditor and the debtor would be equally at fault. But, when you add the underreporting by the debtor, that's different. Now, I don't see how you can make a case for equal responsibility, and the creditor being more at fault doesn't make any sense to me.

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#324

Post by lmm »

knorker wrote: post #266
lmm wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Opening an office in a new state may be just as difficult as opening an office in a new country, but my sense is that both a) selling to the entire US and b) hiring employees from the entire US (with the requirement to relocate to the state where you operate) are substantially easier than doing the same things across the entire EU.

To be clear, I don't just mean opening a physical office. I also mean the cost of having your first remote worker who lives and works from another state. For employee relocation, that's definitely true. Even moving from Hawaii to Alaska is less of a life change than Spain to Poland. Or hell, probably even Spain to Portugal. I'm surprised to hear you say selling would be that hard, though. It'd be interesting to see a…

> I'm surprised to hear you say selling would be that hard, though. It'd be interesting to see a comparison. And there's also both B2C and B2B.

I'm getting out of my depth, so this is more vibes than concrete knowledge, but: Selling goods isn't that hard in the EU, but you do have to be set up to collect VAT at a different rate depending on where the customer is from, which is a barrier, whereas I think in the US you can just tell the customer that they've got an obligation to pay sales tax in their state? (I remember Amazon battling about this at one point, but I think the states backed down). Selling services cross-border is a nightmare, there's still not really any standardisation of what licenses etc. you need.

Plus of course even if there were no legal issues there's often a language barrier.

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#325

Post by wolvesechoes »

rhubinak wrote: post #289
wolvesechoes wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

By adopting euro you get a seat at the ECB and can influence monetary policy of the whole Eurozone.

The same way as having the seat in the UN's Security Council gives you the influence, but in the end France has little to say when compared with US or China.

Germany even without any representation in ECB will have much more to say than other countries. Because in the end it is a real political power that allows anyone to make decisions.

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#326

Post by vldx »

ingohelpinger wrote: post #103
tirant wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Historically other currencies have depreciated much more than the Euro. The LEV depreciated around 99% before being pegged to the Euro.

Well, the Lev was pegged to the DM first, which was a way stronger currency. The euro has depreciated more (in both real purchasing power and against other currencies) than the Deutsche Mark. The DM was seen as one of the strongest and most stable post-WWII currencies, while the euro has struggled with crises and inflation. Bulgaria pegging to the DM in 1997 meant anchoring to a much harder currency than what the eur…

> Bulgaria pegging to the DM in 1997 meant anchoring to a much harder currency than what the euro has become.

Look, it seems you have beef with Bulgaria adopting the euro based on your other comments, but matter of fact is that many people remember the hyperinflation and the Videnov winter — especially older people that were queuing for bread with all of their lifetime savings disappearing overnight. Hence, the board staying almost 30 years. What’s scary for many is that the board in its current form is just a law that can be removed with simple majority, e.g. the current stable state could be made obsolete in a matter of a weekend — with devastating consequences for the economy. Adopting the euro means tighter integration with EU only and it’s mostly irrevocable … sadly for Russia and its proxies over here.

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#327

Post by mmarq »

throw0101a wrote: post #278
mmarq wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The biggest issue is giving up one of the biggest instrument of control over the economy to a supra-national non-democratic organisation This is the point. Germany managed to set up a really independent central bank (which is a non- democratic, bureaucratic, etc… thingy) and inflation was at the target for decades. Italy, France, etc… didn’t, and inflation was 2-3 point above target and above the German levels. So…

> Germany managed to set up a really independent central bank (which is a non- democratic, bureaucratic, etc… thingy) and inflation was at the target for decades. And Germany being overzealous in fiscal and monetary policy has stagnated growth and limited policy options. Look at all the rigmarole that had to be done so that Germany could start considering military spending to deal with the new global situation. (Heck…

> And Germany being overzealous in fiscal and monetary policy has stagnated growth and limited policy options.

German fiscal discipline is a tool of strategic independence. It started in ‘49 when they knew they would eventually had to reabsorb East Germany. Today it allows them to re-arm without having to ask permission.

Over the past 20 years, Germany grew more than Italy, France and the UK.

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#328

Post by nickslaughter02 »

p2detar wrote: post #302
Maxion wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

nickslaughter02 accounts only comments seem to be slandering the EU.

It’s almost as if their account was created for this purpose. I sometimes wish HN had the lobsters invitation model.

Yes, let's silence opinions we don't like. Just like **.

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#329

Post by blub »

saubeidl wrote: post #265
blub wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn’t know this was an EU regulation, but if it is, it’s utterly dumb. The new lids are harder for kids to use, bother you when drinking, get in the way when pouring and are a general nuisance.

> bother you when drinking, get in the way when pouring How? Just rotate it by 90 degrees. It's really not that hard, and in return you will never lose a cap again and we reduce litter by quite a bit. It's a pretty good trade-off imo.

I never lost a cap in my life, people don’t “lose” them, they throw them away.

It bothers because it pulls back towards the bottle and presses on your mouth. Or if you use force to open it at 180, then it doesn’t screw back on properly because the plastic is bent and holds it in a wrong position. So again force is needed for something which used to be ridiculously easy.

As I said, kids don’t manage that well. For adults, it’s one more little irritant.

Re: Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

#330

Post by blub »

dzhiurgis wrote: post #288
blub wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn’t know this was an EU regulation, but if it is, it’s utterly dumb. The new lids are harder for kids to use, bother you when drinking, get in the way when pouring and are a general nuisance.

You allow your kids to drink from plastic bottles?

Not allowing them is a nice theoretical approach that completely fails in the real world.
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