Will Bulgaria adopt the euro in 2024 and what are the benefits of being part of the euro area?

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Bulgaria is xpected to adopt the euro in 2024, which is exactly
one year from now.

In the meantime, some supermarkets already have labels in both currencies.
So, we thought we’d tell you the eurozone story, or which countries
the euro is the official currency, so we all know the story and are a bit more prepared,
when the euro replaces the lev in our wallets.

The Maastricht Treaty establishing the European Union was signed on 7 February 1992.
The Treaty of Maastricht
Economic Community – Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy,
Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom. It entered into force on
1 November 1993.

One of the objectives of the treaty is a single currency, the euro. A European
Central Bank and a European System of Central Banks.

The main objective is price stability of the euro. In 1999, in the so-called “eurozone”.
In 1999, 11 countries join the eurozone. At the moment there are 19 of them – Austria, Belgium, Germany,
Greece, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands,
Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Finland, France, Estonia. It is expected from 1 January 2023.
Croatia is also expected to join in 2023.

Denmark is outside the euro area of its own volition.

The treaty introduces certain criteria that countries have to fulfil for
the euro. These are also called “convergence criteria”.
Countries that want to join need to achieve a sustainable economy.
Their economy must not lag behind the countries in the group. There are four criteria in economic convergence.

Price stability – inflation must not exceed 1.5% of the inflation of the three
member countries with the best performance.

Stable and sustainable public finances – a country’s budget deficit should not
should not exceed 3% of gross domestic product and the total public debt should not
should not exceed 60% of gross domestic product.

Exchange rate stability – the State should participate in the exchange rate
(ERM II) for at least two years without serious deviations from

the ERM II central rate and without a devaluation of the bilateral central rate
of its currency against the euro during the same period.

Long-term interest rates – The long-term interest rate must not be higher than
higher than two percentage points above the rate in the three best-performing Member States in the
price stability.

Legal requirements are also important. Namely, applicants for euro area membership
must also ensure that their national legislation is compatible with
Treaty and with the Statute of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) and of the European
Central Bank (ECB). The Treaty and the Statute establish the independence of central
central banks.

The benefits of the euro are: price stability, increased economic stability and
growth, better integrated and more efficient financial markets, greater influence in
global economy.

More specifically, everything will be spelled out in an Action Plan to the National Plan for
the introduction of the euro in the Republic of Bulgaria, so we will keep you updated on what is happening.