Bulgaria, the poorest country in the EU, becomes the 21st member state to adopt the euro

It's now a done deal: Bulgaria will switch to the euro. European Union finance ministers gave their approval on Tuesday, July 8, making the country the 21st member state to adopt the euro. The measure will take effect on January 1, 2026, and will force this Balkan country, the poorest in the bloc , to abandon its national currency, the lev.

"We did it!" Bulgarian Prime Minister Rossen Jeliazkov rejoiced on the social network X, describing the moment as "historic . " "Joining the eurozone is about much more than replacing the lev with the euro ," added European Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis. "It's about building a better and more prosperous future for Bulgaria and its citizens at the heart of Europe."

The green light from the ministers of the 27 member states was merely a formality: the European Commission and the European Central Bank (ECB) had already decided at the beginning of June that Bulgaria met all the conditions necessary for adopting the euro.

In Bulgaria, a member of the EU since 2007, the prospect of abandoning the national currency is far from unanimous. In recent weeks, several thousand protesters have gathered in the streets of Sofia, the capital, holding signs reading "No to the euro." Some have even pitched tents in front of the Bulgarian National Bank to express their opposition to the plan.

The main fear is that the currency change will fuel a surge in prices, which could further anger Europhobes. According to recent polls, nearly half of those surveyed oppose the country's entry into the eurozone next year.

On the other hand, euro supporters see it as an important step that would strengthen Bulgaria's western geopolitical anchorage and, above all, protect it from Moscow's influence. "We've been tied to the euro for a long time, and the political fallout is growing," Veselin Dimitrov told AFP on the streets of Sofia. The 43-year-old musician sees the anti-euro protests as "the Kremlin's hallmark." "But the euro is not a magic wand that will solve our systemic problems," he warns.

The Bulgarian Prime Minister pledged that the adoption of the new currency would be "smooth" and "efficient ." Bulgaria had wanted to adopt the euro earlier, but had been prevented from doing so until now by high inflation amid a serious political crisis .

The single European currency was launched on January 1, 1999, for electronic transactions, but it took concrete form on January 1, 2002, with the introduction of coins and banknotes. In theory, all EU countries have committed to joining as soon as they meet the conditions, but no timetable has been set. The only exception is Denmark, which negotiated an exemption after a referendum rejecting the single currency in 2000.