A brawl erupted in the Bulgarian parliament today over the country’s decision to join the Eurozone, with some members of parliament calling on supporters of preserving the national currency, the lev, to blockade the national assembly.
The Macedonian news agency MIA reported that during the parliamentary session on June 4th, pro-Russian MPs from the “Revival” party, at the call of leader Kostadin Kostadinov, blocked access to the speaker’s rostrum, after which he climbed onto it.
“Today is a black day for Bulgaria, the Janissaries are burying our country,” Kostadinov declared.
MIA added that photographs published by Bulgarian media show a physical altercation between two MPs.
The parliamentary group “We Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria” submitted a proposal to remove Tsontcho Ganev from the Revival party from his position as Deputy Speaker of Parliament. The reason cited was that tension escalated in the plenary hall when Ganev struck MP Yavor Bozhankov from “We Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria.”
Supporters of the Bulgarian national currency have been protesting outside the national assembly building since the morning of June 4th, and Kostadinov called on demonstrators to blockade the parliament.
The European Commission announced on June 4th that Bulgaria has met the conditions for adopting the single European currency, the euro, from January 1, 2026, making it the 21st member of the Eurozone, three years after Croatia.
The official decision on this is to be made by EU finance ministers on July 8th, but no opposition is expected as the country of 6.4 million inhabitants meets all technical requirements. The European Central Bank (ECB) also today gave a positive opinion for the introduction of the euro in Bulgaria.
