Bulgaria can join the Eurozone in 2026

On Wednesday, Brussels officially approved Bulgaria's long-standing bid to join the eurozone, paving the way for the country to become the 21st EU member state to adopt the euro on January 1, 2026.

The Commission and the European Central Bank (ECB) declared that Bulgaria – the poorest member state of the EU – had met the so-called “convergence criteria” for joining the monetary union.

"The euro will bring tangible benefits to Bulgarian citizens and businesses: stable prices, lower transaction costs, protected savings, increased investment, and increased trade. Of course, the euro is more than a currency," said EU Economic Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis.

Sofia has long maintained a low deficit and debt level in its bid to join the currency, but has struggled stubbornly to contain inflation, which has remained stubbornly high following the energy shock triggered by Russia's all-out invasion of Ukraine.

According to the Commission's latest forecast , Bulgaria's headline inflation rate will rise to 3.6 percent this year, well above the euro area average of 2.4 percent.

However, Brussels noted that Bulgaria's average inflation rate between May 2024 and April 2025 was 2.7 percent, thus meeting the criterion of being below the "reference value" of 2.8 percent. The reference value is calculated as 1.5 percentage points added to the average inflation rate of the three euro area countries with the lowest price pressure.

Brussels also expects inflation in Bulgaria to fall to 1.8 percent by 2026 as the impact of the VAT on bread and restaurants reintroduced at the beginning of this year eases and wages weaken.

This announcement is a major victory for the government in Sofia. The minority government of conservative Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov, the Bulgarian Central Bank, and the majority of the Bulgarian parliament strongly support joining the euro. It is argued that this step will boost trade and reduce financial transaction costs in the export-dependent economy.

They also point out that joining the single currency area will give Sofia greater control over monetary policy, as the head of the Bulgarian central bank, Dimitar Radev, will sit on the ECB's Governing Council, the bank's main interest rate-setting body.

Although Bulgaria's currency, the lev, has been pegged to the euro since 1999, the country currently has no influence on ECB policy.

resistance

Brussels' announcement came despite recent large-scale protests in dozens of cities across the country, as many citizens fear that the currency changeover could lead to sharp price increases, particularly for food.

The protests were supported by President Rumen Radev and the far-right Rebirth party, the third-largest political force in Bulgaria. Both have called for a referendum on euro accession but have been blocked by the Bulgarian parliament and the courts.

High levels of corruption and years of political instability have further fueled anti-establishment sentiment in the country, whose average per capita GDP of €24,200 is the lowest in the EU.

Commission officials downplayed fears about price increases, arguing that experience shows that the overall price increase after accession will be “extremely small, almost marginal”

They also pointed out that the European and Bulgarian authorities would "monitor" the situation to ensure that companies do not take advantage of the currency changeover by driving up prices to unjustified levels.

Bulgaria is only the second country, after Croatia, to join the euro this decade. Many of the 27 EU member states are still scarred by the memories of the eurozone crisis in the 2010s, which nearly led to the collapse of the monetary union.

The European Parliament and the other eurozone member states must now formally give the green light to Bulgaria's accession. Final approval could come as early as July 8.

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