Overview
- Bulgaria became the eurozone’s 21st member on January 1, introducing euro cash nationwide and ending use of the lev.
- The change gives Bulgaria a vote in ECB monetary decisions through its central bank’s new seat on the Governing Council.
- EU leaders, including Christine Lagarde, highlight smoother trade, lower financing costs, and roughly €500 million a year in saved exchange fees for businesses, with tourism also expected to gain.
- The ECB projects modest, short-lived price effects of about 0.2–0.4%, though local data show grocery bills up roughly 5% year over year and new watchdogs will monitor conversion pricing.
- Surveys indicate nearly half of Bulgarians preferred keeping the lev, while a collapsed government, a failed budget and far-right protests raise risks that any adoption glitches could be politically exploited, with Russian-linked disinformation in the mix.