The euro makes countries stronger and more competitive; Lagarde confronts eurosceptics in Bulgaria

Brussels – The euro is beneficial, and even more today: it offers more competitiveness, more global weight, and more resilience in the face of turbulence, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said at the conference on Bulgaria’s entry into the eurozone from January 1, 2026, organized by the Bulgarian Ministry of Finance and the Bulgarian Central Bank. Lagarde’s message may be a partisan one — given that she is at the head of the institution that manages the single currency — but it becomes an unavoidable path for her, since protests by the anti-euro camp are taking place alongside the conference.

Lagarde first of all points out that the changeover from the Lev to the euro will benefit businesses, and thus the national economy. “For Bulgarian firms, that means zero conversion costs when exporting to their primary European customers.” Entry into the eurozone will not only be a bargain for the big companies, she assures: “Small and medium-sized enterprises will save around one billion levs every year in conversion costs alone.”

In the long run, therefore, Bulgaria will benefit from increased trade flows with the single currency. As Lagarde points out, “because the euro is the world’s second most important currency, the euro area pays for more than half of its imports in its own currency.  In Bulgaria’s case, the share is even higher: around 83 percent of imports are invoiced in what will soon be its own currency. This cushions households and businesses from rising import prices when exchange rates move.”

Rates also move in the event of turbulence, such as more or less open trade wars. “when global demand becomes less predictable, regional integration matters even more – and the single currency cements that integration,” Lagarde insists, quick to point out how a single European currency instead of 27 national currencies “prevents our internal market from being weakened by competitive devaluations.” Again, the ECB President, without mentioning Donald Trump’s tariffs, hints at how the single currency is the best shield to such situations. “We are living in a far more volatile world, marked by constant external shocks. For a small and open economy like Bulgaria, where nearly one in every two jobs depends on foreign demand, that exposure can be particularly acute.”

In a nutshell, from the adoption of the euro in an ever larger monetary zone, “the gains are substantial” and translate into “smoother trade, lower financing costs, and more stable prices,” Lagarde said. According to her, this reasoning, also put on a global scale, serves to address all those euro-skeptic forces around Europe, starting with those countries, all from the east, that so far find a reason to postpone the choice of joining the monetary union. 

Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Romania continue to postpone joining the eurozone despite their obligations to do so. The case for the Scandinavian countries is different: Denmark has an exemption from the obligation to join, as provided for by the Maastricht Treaty, while Sweden held a referendum in 2003 that rejected the adoption of the new currency, with the Swedish government committed not to meet the adoption criteria in accordance with the popular vote. Within the EU member states that use the single currency, there is no shortage of political forces, as in Italy, that would like to abandon the euro and return to their national currency.