Bulgaria – the EU’s poorest country – has become the euro zone’s 21st member – ahead of more obvious and prosperous candidates such as Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary.

For mostly urban, young and entrepreneurial Bulgarians, it’s an optimistic and potentially lucrative leap forward – the final step in the game to bring Bulgaria into the European mainstream – from membership of NATO and the EU, to joining the Schengen area and now the euro.

For older, rural, more conservative people, the replacement of the Bulgarian lev by the euro would spark fear and resentment.

The lev (meaning lion) has been Bulgaria’s currency since 1881, but since 1997 it has been pegged to other European currencies – first the German mark and then the euro.

Opinion polls show Bulgaria’s 6.5 million people have broadly similar views on the new currency, and political turmoil has not made the transition easy.

On December 11, the coalition government led by Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov lost a vote of confidence. Mass protests against 2026 budget. Bulgaria has held seven elections in the past four years – with an eighth possible early next year.

“I don’t want the euro and I don’t like the way it’s been imposed on us,” Todor, 50, a small business owner in the central town of Gabrovo at the foot of the Balkan Mountains, told the BBC.

“If there was a referendum, I estimate 70 per cent would vote no.”

President Rumen Radev proposed a referendum on adopting the euro, but it was rejected by the outgoing government.

Todor, whose business makes colored plastics for the domestic market, has underperformed this year due to high inflation and believes sales have fallen due to worries about the euro.

Ognian Enev, 60, who owns a tea shop in central Sofia, is more enthusiastic. “Overall, it’s a good thing. It’s just a technical change. It doesn’t bother me,” he told the BBC.

In any case, he noted, people buying apartments or cars have so far become accustomed to prices priced in euros. The 1.2 million Bulgarians living abroad have also been sending money home in euros for years.

Like many store owners, Ognian has prepared new currency, including coins and small-denomination notes, to prepare for the transition.

Throughout January you can pay in levs and euros, but change should be in euros. As of February 1, payments in levs will no longer be allowed.

He hopes joining the single currency will help trade – many of his flavored and fruit teas come from sellers in the euro zone, while more expensive high-end teas are imported directly from China and Japan.

From August 2025, all stores in Bulgaria are required by law to display prices in both currencies.

Conveniently, 1 euro is worth approximately 2 leva (1.95583 to be precise). In response to public concerns that prices would be rounded, governments created elaborate regulatory agencies to protect consumers. Some prices have been rounded down: public transport costs will fall slightly in the capital Sofia.

The reverse of the new European coin is designed to overcome concerns that Bulgaria is losing its sovereignty. The 1-euro coin features St. Ivan of the Lira, and the 2-euro coin features Paisius of Hilendar, an 18th-century monk and national revivalist.

Smaller denominations of European cents bear the image of a madara rider, an early state symbol of Bulgaria based on an 8th-century rock relief.

How the new currency will affect Bulgaria as a whole is a question on everyone’s mind.

Lessons from other countries offer two versions – the successful “Baltic model” followed by Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which combined the euro with reforms that streamlined administration, encouraged investment and combated corruption. and the “Italian model”, followed by years of stagnation.

“I’m afraid we will be more like Italy,” Ognian Enev predicted.