The Bulgarian currency has been pegged to the Deutsche Mark for more than twenty years now. This means that we’ve pretty much been using the euro since its inception, and any opposition is just a populist manoeuvring
While it's true that a pegged currency is like using the euro with respect to current purchasing power, that definitely isn't all that matters and it isn't the most important consideration either.
Here is something more important - having your own currency and its associated banking infrastructure serves as an insurance against applying financial pressure to the country, such as stuffing non-repayable loans down the country's throat and then gorging on indefinite loan extensions with high interest rates and amounts - a strategy used so many times but mentioned so very rarely.
Case in point - Greece, that happened to them right after they went all in on the euro and killed their drachma.
It might be that Bulgaria has been tied up to the conveyor belt already and there is no way out of the slaughter house, I don't know the case enough to judge, but in principle, the EU would work much better as a customs union, politicizing it has proven to be a dirty affair.
Putin Putin aside for now, he's irrelevant anyway.
The loans weren't given for investments. Besides, if the Greeks had the drachma they wouldn't be given these loans in the first place.
But you started a very interesting topic - who is more at fault in the case of under-performing loans - the lender, the borrower, or is it 50-50?
Greek's borrowing binge was a drug shot in the arm, when they woke up, they found their shipbuilding industry gone... to the new EU members like Poland who sold cheaper and without tariffs within the EU. The Euro made Greek's recovery impossible.
Unintended consequences or something else? Another interesting topic that applies to many cases besides Greece.
It’s not, it’s a couple hundred people and it’s mostly old folks that are 60+, as they’re easy to be riled up due to them longing for russian occupation.
Also a referendum on the topic was ruled illegal, because it’ll violate the EU accession, where EU adoption is mandatory when criteria are met.
Also it’s too late now, it all depends on two votes on the 8th of July by the ministers of finance and the EU parliament. Bulgaria has no way of pulling out now, without doing massive damage to their EU integration, credit score and investors’ interest.
It’s legal to do a referendum about leaving the EU, but no one wants that and it’d be a political suicide to suggest it.
Alt right politicians mostly want a referendum against the euro specifically, so that they can get points when the main parties can’t deliver it, they don’t want to exit the EU.
Adoption of the Euro currency is mandatory for European Union member states. Only a few states have negotiated an exception (Denmark, previously UK?) and others like Sweden apparently keep delaying somehow. Bulgaria doesn't have much leverage I don't think...
Problem is, that terms for adopt Euro as currency was differnet when becoming a memeber state back then.
Now we have strong push of digital euro with centralised regulations which is something that I would never agree with (privacy and economic concerns) and so I'm agianst adopting Euro in my country.
[Eventually] joining the Euro is part of the rules to join the EU. One could say they've already voted for this.
As a victim of Brexit, I'd love to undo that particular referendum, but I also understand the instability retrying big decisions would cause. Hungary joining the Euro has been on their cards since 2007.
Somehow it was possible to do referendum about entering EU membership, but there was none referendum about leaving EU except GB. There would be probably few states where majority would like to leave EU.