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Reuters
9 hours ago
- Business
- Reuters
EU ministers back Bulgaria's euro adoption from 2026
BRUSSELS, June 20 (Reuters) - European Union finance ministers gave formal support on Friday for Bulgaria to adopt the euro currency, paving the way for the country to become the 21st member of the euro zone from January 1, 2026. The backing of the ministers follows positive assessments of the country's readiness from the European Commission and the European Central Bank. It will be endorsed also by EU leaders at a summit in Brussels on June 26. The exchange rate at which the Bulgarian lev will be converted into euro will be set by EU finance ministers at their meeting in early July, giving Bulgaria six months to prepare the technical transition for the start of the year. Bulgaria has been striving to switch its lev to the euro since it joined the European Union in 2007. But after such a long wait, many Bulgarians have lost their initial enthusiasm, with 50% now sceptical about the euro, according to a Eurobarometer poll in May. Some Bulgarians fear the currency switch will drive up prices. Bulgaria's euro adoption will come three years after the last euro zone expansion, when Croatia joined the single currency grouping at the start of 2023. The accession of Bulgaria into the euro zone will leave only six of the 27 EU countries outside the single currency area: Sweden, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Denmark. None of them have any immediate plans to adopt the euro either for political reasons or because they do not meet the required economic criteria.
Irish Examiner
15 hours ago
- Business
- Irish Examiner
Euro zone finance ministers recommend Bulgaria adopt euro in 2026
Euro zone finance ministers recommended on Thursday that Bulgaria become the 21st member of the euro zone starting January 1, 2026, backing earlier positive assessments of the country's readiness from the European Commission and the European Central Bank. "The Eurogroup agreed today that Bulgaria fulfils all the necessary conditions to adopt the euro," Paschal Donohoe, who chairs meetings of euro zone finance ministers, told a press conference. The recommendation will now be formally adopted by all 27 EU finance ministers on Friday and then by EU leaders on June 26. The exchange rate at which the Bulgarian lev will be converted into euro will be set by EU finance ministers at their meeting in early July, giving Bulgaria six months to prepare the technical transition for the start of the year. Bulgaria has been striving to switch its lev to the euro since it joined the European Union in 2007. But after such a long wait, many Bulgarians have lost their initial enthusiasm, with 50% now sceptical about the euro, according to a Eurobarometer poll in May. Some Bulgarians fear the currency switch will drive up prices. Criteria To get the positive recommendation, Bulgaria had to meet the inflation criterion, which says that the euro candidate cannot have consumer inflation higher than 1.5 percentage points above the three best EU performers. In April, the best performers were France with 0.9%, Cyprus with 1.4% and Denmark with 1.5%, which put Bulgaria with its 2.8% just within the limit. The euro candidate country also cannot be under the EU's disciplinary budget procedure for running a deficit in excess of 3% of GDP. Bulgaria meets this criterion with a budget deficit of 3% in 2024 and 2.8% expected in 2025. The country's public debt of 24.1% of GDP in 2024 and 25.1% expected in 2025 is well below the maximum level of 60%, and its long-term interest rate on bonds is well within the two-percentage-point margin above the rate at which the three best inflation performers borrow. Finally, Bulgaria had to prove it had a stable exchange rate by staying within a 15% margin on either side of a central parity rate in the Exchange Rate Mechanism II. This was easily done because Bulgaria has been running a currency board that fixed the lev to the euro at 1.95583 since the start of the euro currency in 1999. Bulgaria's euro adoption will come three years after the last euro zone expansion, when Croatia joined the single currency grouping at the start of 2023. The accession of Bulgaria into the euro zone will leave only six of the 27 EU countries outside the single currency area: Sweden, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Denmark. None of them has any immediate plans to adopt the euro either for political reasons or because they do not meet the required economic criteria. Reuters.
The Guardian
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Europe should be standing up to Trump and Putin – instead it is mirroring them
Donald Trump's 'America First' policies are undermining decades of transatlantic cooperation just as Putin's Russia destabilises Europe with direct military aggression. But these twin shocks have unintentionally accomplished something the EU institutions never could. They have made European integration feel not just important, but existential – a matter of democratic survival – for ordinary citizens. From Helsinki to Lisbon, people are suddenly experiencing the same existential unease. Trade wars, defence threats and military aggression don't respect borders. More and more Europeans now recognise that their small, individual nations cannot withstand simultaneous pressure from both Washington and Moscow. They find themselves caught between economic coercion and military intimidation. Recent Eurobarometer data confirm the shift: 74% of Europeans now view EU membership as a positive thing – the highest level of support ever recorded. This is a historic opportunity. And yet, EU and national leaders remain paralysed – unable, or unwilling, to convert this public support and shared urgency into political momentum for reducing Europe's dependence on US military guarantees and economic shelter. This is the real tragedy: Europe's governments no longer practise the very ideals they preach. Though the EU still speaks the language of multilateralism and climate leadership, its policy direction and that of most of its member states increasingly mirror Trump's. On migration, the EU's new pact on migration and asylum reframes asylum as a security risk, echoing Trump's immigration crackdown. On climate, Ursula von der Leyen's European Commission has quietly dismantled key green deal initiatives and delayed critical legislation, in a deregulatory shift reminiscent of Trump's EPA rollbacks. Civil society is also under mounting pressure. Just as Trump has targeted non-profits and dissenters, the conservative European People's party (EPP) – von der Leyen's political 'family' – has launched an unprecedented assault on NGOs, threatening their funding and legitimacy. Even fundamental rights are at risk. The EU's response to Hungary's ban on Pride marches and expansion of surveillance powers has been tepid at best – tacitly tolerating democratic backsliding within its own ranks. But perhaps the most dangerous convergence lies in how power is exercised. Trump governs by executive fiat, sidelining Congress with executive orders. Today's commission is drifting in a similar direction at the demand of a majority of its member states. It centralises power, pushing through complex 'omnibus' packages and bypassing the European parliament most recently in its proposal to rearm the EU. What we are witnessing is not just a rupture in the transatlantic alliance but something more insidious. There are signs of an ideological convergence between Trump's America and today's European political centre, where parties are increasingly stealing ideas from the far-right – as in Germany – or governing with those parties, directly or indirectly. That is not only the reality in many EU countries but in the EU system itself under von der Leyen. Despite pledges in her first term to stick to the centre of politics, the commission increasingly relies on the votes of a rightwing majority in the European parliament, formed by conservative and far-right groupings of all stripes. These include the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), which used to be considered mainstream conservative but which now brings together Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy party with more extreme far-right parties such as France's Reconquête and the Sweden Democrats. There is also the Patriots for Europe (PfE) group, co-led by Marine Le Pen and Viktor Orbán, and the even more extreme Europe of Sovereign Nations (ESN), dominated by Germany's Alternative für Deutschland. The EPP has traditionally allied with socialist and liberal MEPs who as a bloc helped elect von der Leyen last year. But the EPP has recently voted with parties to the right of it, notably to delay a new deforestation law. The same happened on budgetary matters, the recognition of Edmundo González as Venezuela's president, and more recently in blocking an EU ethics body. There is also a growing presidentialisation of the commission. During the Covid pandemic, von der Leyen personally negotiated vaccine deals by text message – shielding those discussions from public and parliamentary scrutiny. The risk is that tolerance of such a shift towards personalised, opaque governance makes it easier to pass to the 'Trumpification' stage – where politicians increasingly borrow from the authoritarian playbook, preferring executive fiat over parliamentary democracy. Sign up to This is Europe The most pressing stories and debates for Europeans – from identity to economics to the environment after newsletter promotion This creeping phenomenon weakens Europe's ability to respond to the very threats that should be pushing it closer together. Just when European citizens are most willing to support joint action – on Ukraine, Gaza, big tech, or defence – their leaders are failing to respond. What's missing is the political courage to articulate a compelling alternative to far-right messaging – one that makes an affirmative case for EU-wide action on the issues that matter most to Europeans: common security, managed migration and shared prosperity. This means presenting European integration not as a threat to national identity, but as the means to protect and strengthen it. When European nations pool their defence capabilities, they don't surrender sovereignty – they multiply their capacity to defend their communities. When they coordinate migration policies, they don't open floodgates – they create orderly, humane systems that serve both newcomers and existing communities. When they harmonise economic policies, they don't level down – they lift up regions and workers who have been left behind. This vision appeals to the same desire for security and belonging that populists exploit, but offers real solutions instead of scapegoats. This failure to articulate such a vision has real costs. Every month of delay in building European defence capabilities is another month of dependence on an unreliable US. Every compromise with authoritarians – whether in Budapest or Jerusalem – erodes the democratic credibility that makes European leadership possible. Trump and Putin have inadvertently given Europe a shared sense of purpose and a need for urgent action. The question is not whether Europeans are ready to respond – the polls show they are. The question is whether Europe's leaders will sleepwalk into irrelevance, or worse. Alberto Alemanno is the Jean Monnet professor of EU law at HEC Paris and the founder of The Good Lobby
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
As Europe's free-travel zone turns 40, is Schengen under threat?
On June 14, 1985, government representatives from Belgium, Germany, France, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands gathered on a boat in a small Luxembourg village. The symbolic location – on the Moselle River at the point where France, Luxembourg, and Germany meet – was the town of Schengen. It was there, 40 years ago, that the Schengen Agreement was signed. The deal aimed to gradually eliminate border checks between member states, paving the way for the free movement of people. It was fully implemented in 1995, creating a passport-free travel zone across much of Europe. Today, the Schengen area is made up of 29 countries: 25 EU members plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. Ireland and Cyprus are the only two EU members not signed up. The former has not joined as it has a common travel area with the United Kingdom and it would create border headaches, while the latter is currently in the process of joining. Other countries want to enter the club, such as Albania, which has growing economic, political, and security cooperation with Schengen countries and has benefited from visa-free travel since 2010. Often described as a cornerstone of European integration, Schengen enjoys strong public support. In a Eurobarometer poll from October, 72% of respondents identified it as one of the European Union's most important achievements. The economic benefits of Schengen Romania and Bulgaria's full accession to the Schengen club in January - after years of delay - underscores why. The full removal of border checks has ushered in noticeable economic benefits. The move has boosted Romania's appeal to foreign investors, according to Finance Minister Tánczos Barna. The elimination of border controls has simplified logistics, cut waiting times and reduced costs, making Romania more competitive across European markets. In Bulgaria, then-premier Nikolay Denkov called the milestone "the greatest success of Bulgarian diplomacy" since joining the EU in 2007. Dimitar Dimitrov, of the Chamber of Bulgarian Road Hauliers, said border delays with Romania had previously cost the sector around €300 million ($345 million) annually, with an average waiting time of 10 to 15 hours. Likewise in Croatia, which joined in 2023, Schengen membership enjoys near-universal support. The abolition of border controls is extremely important for Croatia as a tourist destination, given that many come by car. Since joining Schengen, kilometre-long queues at the border crossings with Slovenia and Hungary in the summer months have disappeared. Is the Schengen area being eroded? Despite its many benefits, the Schengen area has faced challenges too, particularly in the last decade. Several countries have reintroduced border controls, usually in a bid to curb migration and terrorism. Since such spot checks don't target every car crossing the border, many travellers experience little to no disruption - unlike during the Covid-19 pandemic, when many countries closed their borders almost entirely at times. In response to the terrorist attacks of November 2015, France reinstated spot checks at its land, sea and air borders with other Schengen members. It has renewed the scheme every six months since then, most recently for the period through October 2025. In 2015, Austria also introduced temporary border checks with Slovenia and Hungary in response to high levels of migration, but these have been repeatedly extended, causing difficulties for cross-border businesses and travellers. In October 2023, Slovenia imposed checks at its borders with Hungary and Croatia. Previously, Italy had reinstated border controls with Slovenia due to increased migration flows along the so-called Balkan route and national security concerns. Reimposing controls The European Commission says temporary border checks are allowed "in the event of a serious threat to public policy or internal security" but that they must be applied as a last resort measure, in exceptional situations. Countries can introduce the checks if they provide a valid justification and they can be extended every six months, usually up to two years. The justification then has to be changed for border checks to remain in place. Currently Slovenia, Austria, the Netherlands, Denmark, France, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Bulgaria and Italy have temporarily reintroduced border controls to some extent. Germany's new government has increased border patrols since it took office last month, to the frustration of some neighbouring countries. "We must avoid creating borders in people's minds again. Schengen must live on," Luxembourg Interior Minister Léon Gloden said in a meeting with his German counterpart Alexander Dobrindt at the end of May. The mayor of Strasbourg and her counterpart across the Rhine river in the German town of Kehl have complained about the ramped-up border checks between them, in a protest letter to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. The mayors say this is hurting daily life and causing fewer Strasbourg shoppers to visit Kehl. Over the past ten years, Germany has gradually reintroduced temporary checks along all of its land borders in a bid to reduce irregular migration. But the new government which took office on May 6 has since intensified the checks, as well as allowing border guards to reject those looking to claim asylum. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has also criticised the move, which has seen thousands of migrants sent back across the border from Germany. He threatened on Wednesday to introduce temporary border controls with Germany, should the pressure on border regions persist. Some countries avoid border checks Several Schengen countries have resisted the trend among their neighbours to reimpose border controls. Belgium has rarely tightened its border rules, only doing so temporarily during the pandemic in 2021. That's telling, considering that Belgium, like its neighbours, has come under pressure from migration and security incidents, such as the 2016 terror attacks in Brussels. Whenever neighbouring France, Germany or the Netherlands have reintroduced border controls, Belgium has defended the free movement of goods and tried to make sure trade was not overly disrupted. Likewise, Portugal has not reinstated border controls, except for some major events like the pope's 2010 visit to Lisbon and the pandemic. Portuguese public opinion has remained largely supportive of Schengen membership, viewing it as a symbol of European integration and freedom of movement, despite growing awareness of the associated security and migration control challenges. Schengen museum The changing attitude of some countries towards the Schengen area has been noticed by the curator of a museum dedicated to it, in the Luxembourg town where it all began. Following renovations, the museum will be reopened on Saturday as part of celebrations marking the 40th anniversary. Much has changed since the museum first opened in 2010, said its director Martina Kneip. "Back then, open borders were actually celebrated," she said. With Covid-19 and the refugee crisis, the sudden cry was: "Schengen is dead and no one wants it anymore, it's to blame for everything." The museum wanted to respond to this change in perception – one reason for the renovations. In the museum, everyone can see for themselves "how valuable and meaningful the idea of Schengen is," said Schengen mayor Michel Gloden. "We have succeeded in dismantling the borders between countries and the borders in people's minds must never be allowed to reappear." The content of this article is based on reporting by AFP, Agerpres, ANSA, ATA, Belga, BTA, dpa, EFE, HINA, LUSA, STA and PAP as part of the European Newsroom (enr) project.
Kuwait Times
10-06-2025
- Business
- Kuwait Times
Bulgarians divided on euro
Bulgarians divided on euro EU gives Bulgaria green light to adopt euro in 2026 BANSKO: Igor Ruge, a hotel manager at a ski resort in southern Bulgaria, welcomed news on Wednesday that the European Commission had given his country the green light to join the euro zone next year. The approval could mean more foreign tourists and investment for the EU's poorest country. "It will be much easier for everyone within the euro zone to understand our value ... and to understand that Bulgaria is one of the most attractive countries for winter and summer vacation," said Ruge, who runs two hotels in the town of Bansko. Bulgaria, a Balkan country bordering the Black Sea, joined the European Union in 2007. It will become the 21st country to adopt the euro on January 1, 2026. The change will ease trade flows and give it a seat on the European Central Bank's rate-setting Governing Council. Despite the expected gains, however, many in Bulgaria are sceptical. Widespread corruption, stark income inequality and a four-year political crisis marked by a series of snap elections and weak coalitions has eroded trust in authorities. Many fear a rise in prices during the switch, as had occurred in other countries that joined over the past decade. A Eurobarometer poll published last month by the European Commission indicated that 50 percent of Bulgarians did not support the common currency, up from 46 percent in November. "When you don't trust the institutions in the country, it is much harder to make any transition ... especially when it comes to joining the euro," Petar Ganev, senior research fellow at Bulgaria's Institute for Market Economics, told Reuters. The government's message is upbeat. Finance minister Temenuzhka Petkova said last week said the euro would bring more investment and stability to Bulgaria. She said the government will launch a campaign this week to reassure citizens. "One of the biggest challenges is how to combat fake news," she told a forum last week. Already everyday goods in shops are listed in euros as well as the Bulgarian lev currency to get people used to the conversion. Still, vocal political opposition remains. Thousands attended a protest organised by the far-right Revival Party outside parliament in the capital Sofia on Wednesday in which demonstrators waved Bulgarian flags and chanted "no to Euro colonialism". With an average monthly salary of 2,443 leva ($1,420.76), Bulgaria is the poorest country in the European Union. Populations in rural areas outside Sofia will be most vulnerable to inflation. Nikola Ragev, a 75-year-old pensioner, was selling vegetables in the town of Pernik, some 20 kilometers west of Sofia on Tuesday. He was worried that the euro would further impoverish the country. "The change will be hard... People have become very poor and count their stotinki (pennies) when they shop, not euros," he said. - Reuters
