Bulgaria’s Energy Minister: Transition to euro will not affect household electricity prices

Bulgaria’s adoption of the euro will not affect electricity prices for household consumers, Energy Minister Zhecho Stankov told bTV in an interview on June 1.

Stankov said that  household consumers in Bulgaria remain at a regulated electricity price, and this means that the price set from July 1 this year will be in effect until June 30 2026.

Bulgaria’s accession to the euro zone would facilitate access to EU funds and financing for the implementation of large energy projects such as units 7 and 8 of Kozloduy nuclear power station and the planned two pumped-storage power plants in the Rhodopes, he said.

On June 4, the convergence reports by the European Commission and the European Central Bank are expected, a key step ahead of decisions by the relevant European institutions about whether Bulgaria will join the euro zone on January 1 2026.

Expectations are that the report will be positive and Bulgaria will switch to the euro from the beginning of next year.

We Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria MP Vassil Pandov told Bulgarian National Television on June 1 that the fear of the euro comes from the long delay between Bulgaria’s accession to the EU and its accession to the euro zone.

“We paid our price with previous administrations to get to the day we expect the convergence report,” Pandov said.

“According to preliminary information from the BNB, it is positive. Currently, we are seeing final attempts to bring confusion and fear into society. After the report, we expect two decisions by the European Council by the end of June to set the date,” he said.

On May 31, protests were held in Sofia and other cities, organised by pro-Russian opposition party Vuzrazhdane, against euro adoption.

Vuzrazhdane falsely claimed that according to the Interior Ministry, there were “270 000 people” at the protest in Sofia. The ministry denied this. Reporters at the scene put the figure at about 2500.

Also on May 31, President Roumen Radev, whose request for Parliament to vote on holding a referendum on euro adoption as of January 1 next year was rejected by the Speaker on the grounds that doing so would be unconstitutional, continued to say that he wanted “people’s voices to be heard”.

Radev claimed that the relevant regulatory commissions did not have enough personnel and financial capacity to “to deploy full-scale actions against unregulated price increases”. Critics say that Radev is fear-mongering about the euro for the sake of his political future.

Competition and consumer protection regulators already have announced steps to be taken against those who try to exploit the adoption of the euro to hike prices illicitly.

In spite of the central bank, Finance Ministry, other key government institutions, business associations, trade unions and authoritative economists pointing out the benefits of Bulgaria joining the euro, the prospect has been the subject of an anti-euro disinformation campaign that has gained ground among the ill-informed and gullible.