Thousands of Bulgarians marched in Sofia and other major cities to protest government plans to adopt the euro, putting the country's currency debate on the street just days before Brussels was expected to give the final green light for eurozone entry. The rally turned a technical stage of European integration into a fight over sovereignty, prices and political identity.
The protesters, led by civic groups and nationalist parties, demanded a referendum on the new currency. In Sofia they carried flags of the pro-Russian Vazrazhdane party and shouted slogans defending the lev, Bulgaria's current currency. The rally remained peaceful, helped by a heightened police presence, but its message was blunt: a large slice of the anti-euro camp does not want the country to move any faster toward giving up the lev.
That resistance has been building against a background of political frustration. Bulgaria joined the European Union in 2007 and remains one of its poorest members. Years of instability have fuelled euroscepticism among the country's 6.4 million people, while disinformation campaigns from home and abroad have fed fears that euro adoption could worsen poverty rather than reduce uncertainty. The demonstration showed how economic anxiety can be turned into a broader argument about national control.
The political conflict intensified earlier this month when President Rumen Radev proposed a referendum on the currency. He said the public had concerns about inflation and purchasing power. Parliament, dominated by pro-European parties, rejected the proposal and accused Radev of acting in favor of Moscow with a last-minute move that could have sabotaged euro adoption. That dispute ensured the currency issue was not only about central-bank arithmetic. It became a test of loyalty, with each side casting the other as dangerous.
The anti-euro rally also exposed the symbolism around the lev. Protesters framed the currency as something more than a unit of account. For them, it stood for independence, continuity and resistance to a future they fear could bring higher costs. In that sense the protest was both economic and cultural: a rejection of a policy move and a defense of a national marker.
The country's expected path into the eurozone remains politically contested even if the formal approval process proceeds. The event date shows a public still divided over whether monetary union will anchor Bulgaria more securely in Europe or expose it to new risks. With Brussels due to weigh in shortly after the protest, the streets of Sofia became the clearest expression yet of how much resistance still exists to one of the most consequential policy shifts in the country's post-communist history.
