Brussels (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – On Wednesday, the European Commission and European Central Bank gave the green light for Bulgaria to adopt the euro from 1 January 2026, making it the 21st nation to join the single currency area.
Since joining the European Union in 2007, Bulgaria has been working towards adopting the euro as its currency. However, after a long wait, many Bulgarians have lost their initial confidence, with 50% now expressing scepticism towards the euro, according to a Eurobarometer poll in May.
Joining the eurozone means more than just using euros – it also means a spot on the European Central Bank’s Governing Council, which sets interest rates.
What criteria did Bulgaria need to meet for entry?
The EU Commission stated that Bulgaria satisfied the formal requirements to adopt the currency now used by 347 million Europeans across 20 nations in a convergence report detailing how the country’s economy integrates with the rest of the eurozone.
“Today, the European Commission concluded that Bulgaria is ready to adopt the euro as of 1 January 2026 – a key milestone that would make it the twenty-first Member State to join the euro area,”
According to a statement released by the EU Commission.
The Commission also looked at whether Bulgaria’s economy and markets are integrated with the rest of the EU, as well as the trends in the country’s balance of payments.
Meanwhile, in a separate report, the ECB stated that Bulgaria was ready. ECB Executive Board Member Philip Lane said in a statement,
“I would like to congratulate Bulgaria on its outstanding commitment to making the necessary adjustments.”
Later on Wednesday, the ECB will release its own assessment on whether it believes the country is ready and if its central bank is independent.
What are the next steps after EU approval?
With the EU executive arm giving its seal of approval, EU leaders will now need to sign off on the move later this June. After that, EU finance ministers will determine the exchange rate for converting Bulgarian levs into euros in July, allowing the country to get its technical preparations in order for the rest of the year.
For Bulgaria to receive a positive recommendation, it had to meet the inflation criterion, which states that a euro candidate cannot have consumer inflation exceeding 1.5 percentage points above the three best-performing EU countries.
Bulgaria’s adoption of the euro will occur three years after Croatia joined the single currency zone at the start of 2023, marking the last eurozone expansion. Once Bulgaria joins the eurozone, only six out of 27 EU countries will remain outside the single currency area: Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Romania, and Denmark.
Lailuma Sadid is a former diplomat in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Embassy to the kingdom of Belgium, in charge of NATO. She attended the NATO Training courses and speakers for the events at NATO H-Q in Brussels, and also in Nederland, Germany, Estonia, and Azerbaijan. Sadid has is a former Political Reporter for Pajhwok News Agency, covering the London, Conference in 2006 and Lisbon summit in 2010.
