site.btaVazrazhdane Calls for Swift Consideration of Bill to Extend Lev and Euro Dual Circulation Period

Vazrazhdane, the third-largest parliamentary group, on Thursday urged Parliament to debate as soon as possible a bill extending the month-long euro and lev dual circulation period beyond its statutory expiry on January 31.

Vazrazhdane Floor Leader Kostadin Kostadinov said from the rostrum that just over a week from now, Bulgaria's national currency will be definitively withdrawn from circulation. At the same time, because of what he described as the extremely coercive manner in which the euro is being introduced in Bulgaria, "the Bulgarian people are offering passive resistance and refusing to shop with 'shitcoins'."

As a result, at present between 70% and 80% of the cash flow, particularly in small shops rather than large retail chains, is conducted primarily in leva, he said. No one wants to shop with a foreign currency; Bulgarians want the Bulgarian lev, and in just over a week a shortage will emerge, according to Kostadinov.

He recalled that Vazrazhdane's bill had been shelved for over a month without debate by the parliamentary Budget and Finance Committee and the Economic Policy and Innovation Committee. He said that, meanwhile, the Election Code amendments, "pushed through in absurd, near-24-hour sittings by dozing MPs unaware of what they were voting on", are now being rushed onto the agenda as an extraordinary item. "Vazrazhdane insists that, if there is still any majority in the plenary that thinks about Bulgarian citizens and the Bulgarian people, the bill we have submitted, which has been languishing for over a month, should be considered, because technically there is still time; it could happen even next week," the party leader said.

On December 14, 2025, Vazrazhdane tabled a bill under which the dual circulation period is to be extended to six months - the maximum permissible under Council Regulation (EC) No 974/98 of 3 May 1998 on the introduction of the euro. The lawmakers argued that the longer period was necessary because of the "extraordinary situation" in Bulgaria with no Parliament-elected cabinet and no adopted annual budget law. They also insisted that, considering that two applications challenging the adoption of the euro by Bulgaria are pending before the EU Court of Justice, the use of the national currency for payments in Bulgaria must not be discontinued until the Court renders judgment on the merits of the two cases.

The National Assembly was in Christmas recess between December 22 and January 10.

On January 7, the Bulgarian Finance Ministry denied allegations that the month-long euro and lev dual circulation period will be prolonged beyond January 31. The response was prompted by claims circulating in public that such an extension would be part of a planned revision of the Introduction of the Euro in the Republic of Bulgaria Act.

The Finance Ministry explained that the one-month period starting from January 1, 2026 - the date when the euro became Bulgaria's official currency - had been set after public consultations which did not produce proposals for its extension or reduction. The period has also been consulted with the Bulgarian National Bank, the Financial Supervision Commission, government institutions and the academic community and has been coordinated with the European Commission and the European Central Bank.

The Ministry recalled that the countries that most recently joined the eurozone (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Slovakia and Slovenia) opted for two-week dual circulation whereas only Malta and Cyprus chose one month.