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Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

(www.ecb.europa.eu)
266 points toomuchtodo | 1 comments | 09 Jul 25 00:44 UTC | HN request time: 0.201s | source
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ktsangop ◴[09 Jul 25 06:42 UTC] No.44506962[source]▶
I hope Bulgaria and the EU have learned from past mistakes (I don't think they have). While EU and the Euro had good intentions and prospect, it turned out to be a disaster for some of us. Greece is in a recession for more than 16 years now, with no visible exit, because (one of many reasons of course) it couldn't devalue its currency back in 2009.

Now we might speculate that Greece couldn't have avoided this, even if it weren't for the Euro, but having lived this from the inside, I think that it wouldn't be that painful.

Countries like Japan, Italy and even USA nowdays, have comparable debt to GDP indexes, but none of them (as far as I undestand) have had this kind of dorp in living standards, price inflation or increase in poverty rates since 2008.

Best of luck to our Bulgarian neighbours. They are going to need it!

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3D30497420 ◴[09 Jul 25 07:14 UTC] No.44507121[source]▶
The Greek economy is still in recession? The EC seems to think it is doing fairly well: https://economy-finance.ec.europa.eu/economic-surveillance-e...

Certainly better than Germany (however comparable the two economies can be): https://economy-finance.ec.europa.eu/economic-surveillance-e...

replies(1): >>44507594 #
1. ktsangop ◴[09 Jul 25 08:34 UTC] No.44507594[source]▶
Maybe the word recession was not accurate. Also Germany is a highly developed country, so it's expected to have minimal growth. Greece should be compared to other developing economies in Europe (mostly pre-communist states), and that comparison is eye-popping...

The real economy, the one that affects people's lives, is still something like 25% below what was pre-2009. In essence people are still 25% poorer than they were before 2009. That's the worst recession EVER recorded in recent history. Worse than the 1930s.

That's why Greece is only slightly above Bulgaria (yet) in real purchasing power compared to other EU countries.

Don't get me wrong. There were a lot of benefits for most of the EU countries, but the lack of common economic strategy, and regulation prooved catastrophic for some.