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    256 points toomuchtodo | 13 comments | | HN request time: 0.761s | source | bottom
    1. smallstepforman ◴[] No.44506514[source]
    If abandoning your own currency and adopting Euros was such a big deal, the UK would have done it decades ago (while it was still a part of the EU).

    This benefits the bigger economies, at the expense of the smaller economies. Any fiscal policy is dictated by the bigger countries, and with identical currencies, the only policy left for Bulgarians is to cut wages in public sector. This will impact local economy, and ripple through their society becoming poorer. And the bigger foreign corporations can ransack the place. Brilliant.

    replies(5): >>44506559 #>>44506586 #>>44506644 #>>44507565 #>>44508579 #
    2. legulere ◴[] No.44506559[source]
    The Bulgarian Lev is already pegged to the euro and was pegged to the DM before
    replies(1): >>44506711 #
    3. Maxion ◴[] No.44506586[source]
    I wonder why this comment is at the top of the HN post.

    Over the years I've seen a lot of missinformation on this topic that follows pretty much this exact train of thought. Why would countries join the EU and the Euro if it didn't benefit them?

    The baltics have all grown massively since the 90s when they became independent, and even though they all were on nice trajectories they still all decided to join the EU and the Euro.

    Bringing up the UK as some model for all other "small" european countrie sounds odd. The UK joined the EEC specifically because it had slower economic growth than the other large EU countries.

    The UK, and specifically the city of london, with its huge international financial pull has a very different place in the global economy than Bulgaria...

    replies(1): >>44506756 #
    4. ingohelpinger ◴[] No.44506644[source]
    debt unions never work.
    5. gmueckl ◴[] No.44506711[source]
    Is that why the lev tonUeor conversion rate is essentially the same ad DM to Euro?
    replies(1): >>44506884 #
    6. marton78 ◴[] No.44506756[source]
    > Why would countries join the EU and the Euro if it didn't benefit them?

    Joining benefits the country's elites, rather than its general populace -- and it's these elites who decide whether to join.

    Bulgaria joining will weaken the Euro, which benefits big, export-oriented economies such as Germany and France. This is how the Euro has always worked: the big economies dilute their trade surpluses at the cost of smaller European countries.

    replies(4): >>44506982 #>>44506986 #>>44507105 #>>44507287 #
    7. decimalenough ◴[] No.44506884{3}[source]
    Yes. It's in fact exactly the same conversation rate, down to the last decimal, because back in the day 1 lev = 1 DM.
    8. hgomersall ◴[] No.44506982{3}[source]
    And the strong countries export their unemployment to the weak countries.
    9. Strom ◴[] No.44506986{3}[source]
    > Joining benefits the country's elites, rather than its general populace -- and it's these elites who decide whether to join.

    That's bullshit. The decision to join is made via referendum.

    10. PunchTornado ◴[] No.44507105{3}[source]
    no proofs, just rephrasing what anti-eu propaganda says. also it is nice how people think they are able to dismiss a policy like the euro in 2 sentences thinking they understand it. probably without a phd in economics either.
    11. ChocolateGod ◴[] No.44507287{3}[source]
    all the elites like the expats in Spain.
    12. cherryteastain ◴[] No.44507565[source]
    Britain is a country with a massive special snowflake syndrome, and wanted opt outs of pretty much everything in the EU (and eventually quit the union itself). Just next door, Ireland adopted the Euro and is doing well.
    13. rsynnott ◴[] No.44508579[source]
    The UK's nearest neighbour Ireland did. Looking between Britain and Ireland now vs then, you'd definitely want Ireland's rate of growth (ignore GDP, which is massively distorted in Ireland, but look at wage growth) and not the UK's (though realistically the Euro was not a _huge_ factor there either way).

    In fact, without the Euro/EMU, Ireland's currency would likely still be tied to Sterling, as it was until 1980. This would be, ah, _not great_, especially at the moment. Clearly, at least in this case, the euro benefited a small country (in particular Ireland was spared the various fiscal shocks that the UK suffered as a result of Brexit and Truss).