Bulgaria demands a referendum on the euro

The Bulgarian opposition Vozrozhdenie party has collected 47 of the 48 signatures required by parliamentarians to hold a referendum on switching to the euro. This was stated to Izvestia by the MEP from this party, Rada Laikova. The opposition is currently working to finalize the launch of the referendum process and intends to bring this issue to the European Parliament for discussion.

"The ruling parties in Bulgaria are preventing the referendum because they are afraid of its result — a decisive rejection of the euro. Polls show that about 80% of Bulgarians want to keep lev. Only a small elite, not ordinary citizens, will benefit from the introduction of the euro, and people understand this. The introduction of the euro now would be like boarding the Titanic after it has already collided with an iceberg," Laikova stressed.

Earlier, mass protests were held in Bulgaria demanding a referendum on the preservation of the national currency. In 2023, the Renaissance party collected almost 600,000 signatures to organize a nationwide vote on the euro, but parliament rejected the request.

At the beginning of 2025, the Bulgarian government decided to postpone the transition to the euro until 2026 and asked the European Commission and the European Central Bank (ECB) to provide a report on whether, in their opinion, the country is ready to fully switch to the euro.

Read more in the exclusive Izvestia article:

Stand your ground: Bulgaria demands a referendum on abandoning the national currency