site.btaOne Month after Bulgaria Joined Euro Area, 358 Mln People Share Our Currency and Future, ECB President Says

“Today marks one month since Bulgaria joined the euro area, making it 358 million people sharing our currency and our future,” European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde wrote in a post on Facebook.

Lagarde’s statement is part of a series of public comments made by Lagarde in late 2025 and early 2026 highlighting Bulgaria’s progress toward membership in the euro area.

Bulgaria adopted the euro as its official currency on January 1, 2026. At midnight on January 31, 2026, the one-month period during which the euro and the lev circulated in parallel came to an end. As of February 1, the single European currency is now the only legal tender in Bulgaria.