Revolt south of the Danube before the adoption of the euro: the president asked for a referendum, others call on the “Bulgarian leu”

Manifestations, appeal to the referendum and misinformation: in Bulgaria, the prospect of accession to the euro area on January 1, 2026 is not unanimously accepted, in the context of pricing and some anti-European feelings, France Presse reports.

After delays related to political instability, Bulgaria, a member of the EU since 2007 as Romania, should soon become the 21st state adopting the single currency, three years after the Utlim entered “Club”-Croatia. The green wave from Brussels is expected during June.

“The adoption of the euro would mean embarking on the Titanic,” said in a statement for AFP Nikolai Ivanov, a high retired official, who came to “support Leva” in a recent event promoting the national currency in Sofia.

According to recent surveys, almost half of the people questioned declare against the country's entry into the euro area next year.

“The poor are afraid they will become even poorer”

For Boriana Dimitrova, the director of the Alpha Research Institute, this disappointment of the unique currency is explained primarily by the “distrust of institutions” caused by the political chaos of recent years.

Residents are afraid of the consequences of this historical change on their daily lives. “The poor are afraid that they will become even poorer,” she summarized the situation in this country of 6.4 million inhabitants, the poorest of the community bloc.

The reluctance is particularly strong in rural areas, where some Bulgarians have never traveled abroad and are not used to foreign currency transactions.

All the more so as the memory of the serious economic crisis from 1996-1997 is still alive, accompanied by the bankruptcy of 14 banks and a hyperinflation of over 300%.

The president asked for “referendum”

Many chosen exploit these fears, estimates the expert, as the far -right party Vazrajdane, Prous, Anti EU and NATO does, which convened a new demonstration on Saturday in the Capital.

President Roumen Radev surprised at the beginning of May asking for the organization of a referendum on this topic. And he continued this week, accusing the government of not taking the necessary measures to allow “the most vulnerable” to bear a possible prices shock.

According to Eurostat statistics, one third of Bulgarians lived last year under the threat of poverty or social exclusion.

The head of state “unites fears and is addressed to the disappointed, forgotten. It is a well -calculated political gesture,” commented Dimitrova.

This proposal, considered “unconstitutional”, sparked a wave of protests from the jurists, and the president of the assembly, Natalia Kisselova, refused to vote.

“S will to the Bulgarian lion”

But it was enough to reappear anti-EU propaganda. Among the most widespread false information on social networks, we find out that “Brussels will confiscate your economies to finance Ukraine.”

Or that Leva, adopted at the end of the 19th century, would be the oldest currency in Europe and that, therefore, it must be saved at any cost the “Bulgarian” Bulgarian, “Lev” meaning a lion in the old Bulgarian.

Even the comedians transmit this false information through video clips that accumulate millions of views on Facebook and Tiktok, notes AFP, adding that, instead, pro-European voices have great difficulty in being heard.

The adoption of the single currency, a logical stage of European integration

For these supporters of the passage to the euro, the single currency would be an important step towards the Western geopolitical anchor and a protection against the influence of the Kremlin.

“In Sofia and big cities, the population – richer, more educated and younger – sees this as a logical stage in the process of European integration, after accession to the EU and the Schengen area” at the beginning of 2025, stresses Dimitrova.

Institutions and banks are prepared. The design of the coins was chosen, and the two euros is inscribed: “Lord, guard Bulgaria”.

But, a sign of the lack of information and the feeling of inferiority still widespread in this peripheral country, “some still ask me if the Bulgarian Euro will be valid and will have the same value” in France or Germany, “she said amused.