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Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

(www.ecb.europa.eu)
256 points toomuchtodo | 2 comments | 09 Jul 25 00:44 UTC | HN request time: 0.389s | source
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isodev ◴[09 Jul 25 01:24 UTC] No.44505504[source]▶
Nice. It’s amazing to see the progress Bulgarians have made in the last 20 years after joining the EU. I can imagine it hasn’t been an easy process.
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petesergeant ◴[09 Jul 25 02:11 UTC] No.44505750[source]▶
Two things that surprised me when I spent a couple of months in Bulgaria:

* Bulgarian support for the EU is pretty low and people didn't think it made their life much better

* Bulgarian support for Russia is very high, like 50%, probably due to their historic help in kicking out the Turks

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mc32 ◴[09 Jul 25 02:18 UTC] No.44505782[source]▶
Also the experience of Greece not too far back and the austerity imposed by Germany is not quite forgotten. Varoufakis[1] can attest to its severity. The Greeks voted against it but Germany imposed its will.

[1]https://jacobin.com/2025/07/yanis-varoufakis-on-the-legacy-o...

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dkjaudyeqooe ◴[09 Jul 25 03:37 UTC] No.44506132[source]▶
This is nonsense. Not mentioned is that Greece has borrowed excessively and had defaulted on its loans. A bailout was organized by the EU and IMF with terms that Greece had every opportunity to reject. No one forced anything on Greece. The referendum was not binding and political theater for the government of the time.

That Greece accepted the terms reflected the reality that the alternative was much worse and would have caused great suffering for Greeks.

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mc32 ◴[09 Jul 25 04:29 UTC] No.44506360[source]▶
What choice did Greece have? Germany was not extending favorable terms, they were punitive, so what choice did they have but take the least awful choice? Syriza tried but Germany had the upper hand and of course didn't give an inch --though Syriza tried very hard.

Varoufakis would argue the severe terms imposed by the creditors/negotiators exacerbated the fiscal issue. Yes Greece had issues but the creditors's terms exacerbated the problem, made things worse.

It's kind of like borrowing from a loan shark to pay off debts --on average, you're better off not. But hey, once you take it, you either pay up, or you lose something dear to you.

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1. dmos62 ◴[09 Jul 25 07:39 UTC] No.44507257[source]▶
Greece underreported its debt until 2009: i.e. it borrowed too much while lying about how much it's already borrowed. That's the main difference between Greece on the one hand and Italy, Portugal on the other, in my eyes. Italy and Portugal too suffered a public debt crises, but they weren't so blatant about it. I sympathize with the common Greek man, and I wish their crises had been managed with more success, but I also don't feel especially interested in bankrolling Greek policies that led to this crises.
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2. mc32 ◴[09 Jul 25 13:07 UTC] No.44509587[source]▶
I dunno. Pretty sure creditors aren't innocent little old ladies. They're financial killers and knew the situation but also knew they had Germany and the Troika behind them to save them if things went south (as they did). It was win-win for them. The economy miraculously grows: win! the economy sours: win!