Bulgarian euro coins
Encyclopedia
Bulgaria
aims to join the euro
zone in more than three years. The country has set itself a target date of 1 January 2015 . The euro coins have not been designed yet, but the motif for all coins has been chosen to be the Madara Rider
.
was one of the favourites to become the symbol of Bulgaria to be used on the national side of the country's euro coins. Other eminent pretenders for the title ‘Symbol of Bulgaria' were the ancient tradition of the nestinars (Bulgarian fire-dancers
), the Cyrillic alphabet
, the Rila Monastery
and the Tsarevets
medieval fortress near Veliko Turnovo.
As of 17 June 2008, debates about the design of the future Bulgarian Euro coins were held all over the country. They continued until 29 June when a vote decided the symbol to be used on all coins. Bulgarians voted in post offices, gas stations and schools.
Finally, on 29 June 2008 it was announced that 25.44% of the Bulgarian voters had chosen the Madara Horseman to be depicted on future euro coins.
, once the convergence criteria
are fulfilled. As the current lev was fixed to the Deutsche Mark at par, the lev's peg effectively switched to the euro, at the rate of 1.95583 leva = 1 euro, which is the Deutsche Mark's fixed exchange rate to euro. On the occasion of the signing of the EU accession treaty
on 25 April 2005, the Bulgarian National Bank
issued a commemorative coin with a face value of 1.95583 leva, giving it a nominal value of exactly 1 euro.
On the upside, Bulgaria fulfills the state budget criterion, which foresees that the deficit does not exceed 3% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). Over the past few years, the report said, the country has consistently improved its budget fundamentals and since 2003, a break-even point, the budget ran surpluses and in 2007 was at 3.4% of GDP. The EC forecasts that it will remain at 3.2% of GDP in both 2008 and 2009.
In regard to public debt, Bulgaria has also been within the prescribed cap of 60% of GDP. Government debt has also been declining consistently, from 50% of GDP to 18% in 2007. The expectation are to reach 11% of GDP in 2009. Some recent analysis says that Bulgaria will not be able to join the Eurozone earlier than 2015, due to their inflation problems and the impact of the global financial crisis of 2008. Some members of Bulgarian government, notably economy minister Petar Dimitrov, have speculated recently about unilaterally introducing the euro, which was not well-met by the European Commission
said that Bulgaria will apply for ERM II membership in the end of the month., however the application was delayed until at least 2011.
originally required that all members of the European Union
join the euro once certain economic criteria
are met. Bulgaria meets 2 out of the 5 criteria.
uses the Cyrillic alphabet
. The current design of euro banknotes
has the word euro written in both the Latin and Greek alphabet
s. The same is true of euro coins, but if the Greek model is followed, the alternative spelling will go on the national (obverse) side. In popular Bulgarian usage the currency is referred to as евро ˈɛvro (from Bulgarian Европа [ɛvˈropa], meaning Europe); the plural varies in spoken language – евро, евра [ɛvˈra], еврота [ˈɛvrota] – but the most widespread form is евро – without inflection in plural. The word for euro, though, has a normal form with the postpositive definite article
– еврото (the euro).
The word for eurocent is евроцент ˈɛvrotsɛnt and most probably that, or only цент [ˈtsɛnt], will be used in future when the European currency is accepted in Bulgaria. In contrast to euro, the word for “cent” has a full inflection both in the definite and the plural form: евроцент (basic form), евроцентът (full definite article – postpositive), евроцентове (plural), 2 евроцента (numerative form – after numerals). The word stotinki (стотинки), singular stotinka (стотинка), the name of the subunit of the current Bulgarian currency can be used in place of cent, as it has become a synomym of the word “coins” in colloquial Bulgarian; just like “cent” (from Latin centum), its etymology
is from a word meaning hundred – “sto” (сто). Stotinki is used widely in the Bulgarian diaspora in Europe to refer to subunits of currencies other than the Bulgarian lev
.
Initially, the ECB
and the EU Commission insisted that Bulgaria change the name it uses for the currency from ЕВРО to ЕУРО, claiming the currency should have an official and standard spelling across the EU. Bulgaria on the other hand stated that it wants to take into account the different alphabet and the principle of phonetic orthography in the Bulgarian language.
The issue was decisively resolved in favour of Bulgaria at the 2007 EU Summit in Lisbon
, allowing Bulgaria to use the Cyrillic spelling евро on all official EU documents.
As of 13 December 2007, all EU institutions – including the ECB
– use ЕВРО as the official Bulgarian transliteration of the single European currency.
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
aims to join the euro
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
zone in more than three years. The country has set itself a target date of 1 January 2015 . The euro coins have not been designed yet, but the motif for all coins has been chosen to be the Madara Rider
Madara Rider
The Madara Rider or Madara Horseman is an early medieval large rock relief carved on the Madara Plateau east of Shumen in northeastern Bulgaria, near the village of Madara....
.
Selecting the design
The Madara RiderMadara Rider
The Madara Rider or Madara Horseman is an early medieval large rock relief carved on the Madara Plateau east of Shumen in northeastern Bulgaria, near the village of Madara....
was one of the favourites to become the symbol of Bulgaria to be used on the national side of the country's euro coins. Other eminent pretenders for the title ‘Symbol of Bulgaria' were the ancient tradition of the nestinars (Bulgarian fire-dancers
Nestinarstvo
Nestinarstvo is a ritual originally performed in several Bulgarian- and Greek-speaking villages in the Strandzha Mountains close to the Black Sea coast in the very southeast of Bulgaria. It involves a barefooted dance on smouldering embers performed by nestinari...
), the Cyrillic alphabet
Cyrillic alphabet
The Cyrillic script or azbuka is an alphabetic writing system developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 10th century AD at the Preslav Literary School...
, the Rila Monastery
Rila Monastery
The Monastery of Saint Ivan of Rila, better known as the Rila Monastery is the largest and most famous Eastern Orthodox monastery in Bulgaria. It is situated in the southwestern Rila Mountains, south of the capital Sofia in the deep valley of the Rilska River at an elevation of above sea level...
and the Tsarevets
Tsarevets
Tsarevets is a medieval stronghold located on a hill with the same name in Veliko Tarnovo in northern Bulgaria. It served as the Second Bulgarian Empire's primary fortress and strongest bulwark from 1185 to 1393, housing the royal and the patriarchal palaces, and is a popular tourist...
medieval fortress near Veliko Turnovo.
As of 17 June 2008, debates about the design of the future Bulgarian Euro coins were held all over the country. They continued until 29 June when a vote decided the symbol to be used on all coins. Bulgarians voted in post offices, gas stations and schools.
Finally, on 29 June 2008 it was announced that 25.44% of the Bulgarian voters had chosen the Madara Horseman to be depicted on future euro coins.
Bulgarian euro coins
Bulgaria euro coins will replace the current national currency, the levBulgarian lev
The lev is the currency of Bulgaria. It is divided in 100 stotinki . In archaic Bulgarian the word "lev" meant "lion".It is speculated that Bulgaria, as a member of the European Union will adopt the Euro in 2015 .- First lev, 1881–1952 :...
, once the convergence criteria
Convergence criteria
The euro convergence criteria are the criteria for European Union member states to enter the third stage of European Economic and Monetary Union and adopt the euro as their currency...
are fulfilled. As the current lev was fixed to the Deutsche Mark at par, the lev's peg effectively switched to the euro, at the rate of 1.95583 leva = 1 euro, which is the Deutsche Mark's fixed exchange rate to euro. On the occasion of the signing of the EU accession treaty
Treaty of Accession 2005
The Treaty of Accession 2005 is an agreement between the member states of European Union and Bulgaria and Romania. It entered into force on 1 January 2007. The Treaty arranged accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the EU and amended earlier Treaties of the European Union...
on 25 April 2005, the Bulgarian National Bank
Bulgarian National Bank
The Bulgarian National Bank is the central bank of the Republic of Bulgaria with its headquarters in Sofia. The BNB has been established on 25 January 1879. It is an independent institution responsible for issuing all banknotes and coins in the country, overseeing and regulating the banking sector...
issued a commemorative coin with a face value of 1.95583 leva, giving it a nominal value of exactly 1 euro.
Convergence criteria
Bulgaria meets three and fails on two criteria in order to join the eurozone. It derogates on the price stability criterion, which envisages that its inflation does not exceed that of the three EU member states with the lowest inflation (Malta, the Netherlands and Denmark) by 1.5%. Bulgaria’s inflation in the 12 months to March 2008 reached 9.4%, well above the reference value of 3.2%, the report said. Furthermore, Bulgaria has not yet joined ERM II but plans to formally apply for membership in November 2009. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601102&sid=a6_MSuEqdbo0http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=107615http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=107685On the upside, Bulgaria fulfills the state budget criterion, which foresees that the deficit does not exceed 3% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). Over the past few years, the report said, the country has consistently improved its budget fundamentals and since 2003, a break-even point, the budget ran surpluses and in 2007 was at 3.4% of GDP. The EC forecasts that it will remain at 3.2% of GDP in both 2008 and 2009.
In regard to public debt, Bulgaria has also been within the prescribed cap of 60% of GDP. Government debt has also been declining consistently, from 50% of GDP to 18% in 2007. The expectation are to reach 11% of GDP in 2009. Some recent analysis says that Bulgaria will not be able to join the Eurozone earlier than 2015, due to their inflation problems and the impact of the global financial crisis of 2008. Some members of Bulgarian government, notably economy minister Petar Dimitrov, have speculated recently about unilaterally introducing the euro, which was not well-met by the European Commission
European Commission
The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....
Joining ERM II
On January 11, 2010, the Bulgarian Prime-Minister Boyko BorisovBoyko Borisov
Boyko Metodiev Borisov is a Bulgarian politician who has been Prime Minister of Bulgaria since July 2009. Previously he was Mayor of Sofia from 8 November 2005 until his election as Prime Minister....
said that Bulgaria will apply for ERM II membership in the end of the month., however the application was delayed until at least 2011.
Status
The Maastricht TreatyMaastricht Treaty
The Maastricht Treaty was signed on 7 February 1992 by the members of the European Community in Maastricht, Netherlands. On 9–10 December 1991, the same city hosted the European Council which drafted the treaty...
originally required that all members of the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
join the euro once certain economic criteria
Convergence criteria
The euro convergence criteria are the criteria for European Union member states to enter the third stage of European Economic and Monetary Union and adopt the euro as their currency...
are met. Bulgaria meets 2 out of the 5 criteria.
| Convergence criteria | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Inflation rate Inflation rate In economics, the inflation rate is a measure of inflation, the rate of increase of a price index . It is the percentage rate of change in price level over time. The rate of decrease in the purchasing power of money is approximately equal.The inflation rate is used to calculate the real interest... 1 | | Government Government Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized... finances | | ERM II European Exchange Rate Mechanism The European Exchange Rate Mechanism, ERM, was a system introduced by the European Community in March 1979, as part of the European Monetary System , to reduce exchange rate variability and achieve monetary stability in Europe, in preparation for Economic and Monetary Union and the introduction of... membership | | Long-term interest rate Interest rate An interest rate is the rate at which interest is paid by a borrower for the use of money that they borrow from a lender. For example, a small company borrows capital from a bank to buy new assets for their business, and in return the lender receives interest at a predetermined interest rate for... 2 |
||
| annual government Government Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized... deficit to GDP Gross domestic product Gross domestic product refers to the market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period. GDP per capita is often considered an indicator of a country's standard of living.... | gross government debt Government debt Government debt is money owed by a central government. In the US, "government debt" may also refer to the debt of a municipal or local government... to GDP Gross domestic product Gross domestic product refers to the market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period. GDP per capita is often considered an indicator of a country's standard of living.... |
||||
| Reference value | max 1.0% | max 3% | max 60% | min 2 years | max 6.0% |
 BulgariaBulgaria Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east... (May 2010) |
1.7% | 2.8% | 17.4% | not yet a member | 6.9% |
| 1 No more than 1.5% higher than the 3 best-performing EU member states. HICP rate as published by the ECB. 2 No more than 2% higher than the 3 best-performing EU member states. |
|||||
Linguistic issue
BulgarianBulgarian language
Bulgarian is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group.Bulgarian, along with the closely related Macedonian language, demonstrates several linguistic characteristics that set it apart from all other Slavic languages such as the elimination of case declension, the...
uses the Cyrillic alphabet
Cyrillic alphabet
The Cyrillic script or azbuka is an alphabetic writing system developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 10th century AD at the Preslav Literary School...
. The current design of euro banknotes
Euro banknotes
Euro banknotes are the banknotes of the euro, the currency of the eurozone and have been in circulation since 2002. They are issued by the national central banks of the euro area or the European Central Bank...
has the word euro written in both the Latin and Greek alphabet
Greek alphabet
The Greek alphabet is the script that has been used to write the Greek language since at least 730 BC . The alphabet in its classical and modern form consists of 24 letters ordered in sequence from alpha to omega...
s. The same is true of euro coins, but if the Greek model is followed, the alternative spelling will go on the national (obverse) side. In popular Bulgarian usage the currency is referred to as евро ˈɛvro (from Bulgarian Европа [ɛvˈropa], meaning Europe); the plural varies in spoken language – евро, евра [ɛvˈra], еврота [ˈɛvrota] – but the most widespread form is евро – without inflection in plural. The word for euro, though, has a normal form with the postpositive definite article
Definite Article
Definite Article is the title of British comedian Eddie Izzard's 1996 performance released on VHS. It was recorded on different nights at the Shaftesbury Theatre...
– еврото (the euro).
The word for eurocent is евроцент ˈɛvrotsɛnt and most probably that, or only цент [ˈtsɛnt], will be used in future when the European currency is accepted in Bulgaria. In contrast to euro, the word for “cent” has a full inflection both in the definite and the plural form: евроцент (basic form), евроцентът (full definite article – postpositive), евроцентове (plural), 2 евроцента (numerative form – after numerals). The word stotinki (стотинки), singular stotinka (стотинка), the name of the subunit of the current Bulgarian currency can be used in place of cent, as it has become a synomym of the word “coins” in colloquial Bulgarian; just like “cent” (from Latin centum), its etymology
Etymology
Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...
is from a word meaning hundred – “sto” (сто). Stotinki is used widely in the Bulgarian diaspora in Europe to refer to subunits of currencies other than the Bulgarian lev
Bulgarian lev
The lev is the currency of Bulgaria. It is divided in 100 stotinki . In archaic Bulgarian the word "lev" meant "lion".It is speculated that Bulgaria, as a member of the European Union will adopt the Euro in 2015 .- First lev, 1881–1952 :...
.
Initially, the ECB
European Central Bank
The European Central Bank is the institution of the European Union that administers the monetary policy of the 17 EU Eurozone member states. It is thus one of the world's most important central banks. The bank was established by the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1998, and is headquartered in Frankfurt,...
and the EU Commission insisted that Bulgaria change the name it uses for the currency from ЕВРО to ЕУРО, claiming the currency should have an official and standard spelling across the EU. Bulgaria on the other hand stated that it wants to take into account the different alphabet and the principle of phonetic orthography in the Bulgarian language.
The issue was decisively resolved in favour of Bulgaria at the 2007 EU Summit in Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
, allowing Bulgaria to use the Cyrillic spelling евро on all official EU documents.
As of 13 December 2007, all EU institutions – including the ECB
European Central Bank
The European Central Bank is the institution of the European Union that administers the monetary policy of the 17 EU Eurozone member states. It is thus one of the world's most important central banks. The bank was established by the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1998, and is headquartered in Frankfurt,...
– use ЕВРО as the official Bulgarian transliteration of the single European currency.