Bulgaria adopts the euro
The eurozone takes its 21st member, eighteen years after Bulgaria joined the EU.
- When
- Known to
- ± 12 hours
- Era
- Contemporary, Holocene
- Where
- Sofia, Bulgaria · 42.6977° N, 23.3219° E
The lev was replaced on 1 January 2026 at a rate fixed since 1999, making Bulgaria the twenty-first eurozone member and the first to join since Croatia in 2023. Accession had been delayed for years by inflation criteria and by domestic opposition, and polling showed the country roughly evenly divided on the day it happened.