EU sets conversion rate for Bulgaria's euro zone in January 2026

BRUSSELS, July 8 (Reuters) - European Union finance ministers completed the final steps on Tuesday for Bulgaria to become the 21st member of the euro zone from January 2026, including setting the conversation rate of the Bulgarian lev to the euro.

Bulgaria will join the single currency at the start of next year at a rate of one euro to 1.95583 lev. Bulgaria now has just under six months to prepare the technical transition.

EU finance ministers last month gave formal support to the Bulgaria joining the euro after positive assessments of the country's readiness from the European Commission and the European Central Bank. It was also be endorsed by EU leaders at a summit in Brussels on June 26.

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 do so either for political reasons or because they do not meet the required economic conditions. (Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop; Editing by Benoit Van Overstraeten)