Eight weeks ago, the sidewalks in front of the Bulgarian National Bank were packed with tens of thousands of protesters demanding new leadership in a country that has seen a merry-go-round of 10 elected and caretaker governments over the past five years.
But on Saturday, the eve of one of the most dramatic cultural changes for Bulgaria in generations, only a short line stood silently at the bank’s door.
It was the last day before the lev, Bulgaria’s currency since the 1880s, was replaced by the euro. Although the move was long expected, it still divided public opinion, and those waiting in line to exchange their leva for euros expressed both support and regret, some with a hint of sadness at having to part with a piece of their history.
“I’ve been using it my whole life, so I kept some Leva in my house until the very last moment, just for sentimental reasons,” said Aneta Petelkova, 79. “And they are very beautiful, very pretty. The euro feels more paper-like.”
Nikolay Bagdatov, 23, carried bags that threatened to tear under the weight of about 26 pounds of lev coins he had collected near his home and car. “I don’t care if it’s euros, levs, denarii or dollars – it’s just something to make the economy work,” he said.
For Bulgaria, one of the poorest countries in the European Union, the change comes at an unsettling time. The president resigned three weeks ago and the prime minister resigned in December following allegations of government corruption and public opposition to planned tax increases. Elections to elect a new government are not planned and it is not clear when they will take place.
The switch to the euro has raised concerns among Bulgarians that consumer prices will rise, at least temporarily, as is common with currency switches. Still, weariness over constant political unrest dampened some fears about the transition.
“It’s like another change in the middle of nowhere,” said Velimir Bachev, co-owner of the Coffee Syndicate cafe, which borders a square between the National Bank and the parliament building, where protesters gathered in December.
On the wall behind him were written in felt-tip pen the prices of cappuccinos, espresso shots and other drinks in leva and euros, as required by next August to make the transition easier for customers. The double labeling by retailers is intended to prevent the difference from being rounded up and thereby causing higher prices.
Most of Mr. Bachev’s customers pay with credit or debit cards, making the transition easier. But last month, he said, his store didn’t always have enough euros to give change to customers paying cash because the banks were no longer there. In other cases, customers wanted to pay with a mix of euros and leva, resulting in a chaotic conversion.
“Sometimes customers acted as if we were the exchange office, which is not okay, because they come here with 100 leva for a cup of coffee to get change in euros,” he said.
Bulgaria adopted the euro on January 1, giving the country a month to phase out the lev. By Friday, the last working day before the change, about 75 percent of the leva had been removed from circulation and replaced with about 6.1 billion euros, or $7.2 billion. According to the Bulgarian National Bank, an estimated 7.7 billion leva were still in circulation, equivalent to almost 4 billion euros.
One euro is equal to a little less than two leva, an exchange rate that was fixed for almost three decades. Economists say the transition is unlikely to lead to dramatic price swings or spikes in inflation and could even reduce the cost of trade and tourism by eliminating currency conversion fees.
“People had expected problems with the transition, but I would say those fears were overcome quite quickly,” Vladimir Ivanov, head of the Bulgarian Euro Coordination Center, which led the transition, said in an interview.
Of about 6,000 nationwide spot checks designed to ensure retailers and other businesses were exiting the lew properly, only 8 percent were found to have violated the rules, Mr. Ivanov said. Most were small retailers or businesses in rural areas, which he said had been slow to accept the change. Repeat offenders faced fines of up to 100,000 euros.
The idea that the introduction of the euro in other countries led to increased inflation and economic stagnation fueled skepticism in Bulgaria. Right-wing extremist politicians and conspiracy theorists also fueled anti-Euro fears.
“I am absolutely against the euro,” said Veselka Deneva, a 44-year-old honey producer, pointing out that prices in Bulgaria have already risen over the past year.
“I’ll miss the Lev,” she said, bursting into tears. “I hope it comes back.”
Bulgaria’s monthly inflation rate was 0.7 percent in January, when the euro was phased in, a slower rate than the same period last year, said Petar Ganev, a senior researcher at the Institute of Market Economy, a think tank based in the capital Sofia. He noted that public opposition to the euro was likely focused more on the timing of the transition than on the transition itself, comparing the transition to going to the dentist.
“In the long run, you know you have to go,” he said, “but if it’s tomorrow, you’re probably trying to put it off.”
Some disruptions remained.
52-year-old Vladimir Dimitrov stood in line on Saturday to see whether the National Bank would exchange a 500-euro note he received for construction work into smaller denominations. Local banks refused to do this, he said, because the note’s issue date was 2002 – the first year the euro was issued – and it was considered suspect due to its age.
Otherwise, the change didn’t bother him, he said. “It will be easier if we travel,” he added.
Bulgaria is the 21st of the 27 European Union countries to adopt the euro. It applied to join the euro zone in 2018 as Europe recovered from a decade-long debt crisis. The bloc’s final approval came in July.
On Sunday, the first day without Lew in about 145 years, any concerns about the change were dampened when Sofia was covered in soft snow in the afternoon. At the Rainbow Factory, a brunch spot where Italian tourists mingled with locals, customers preferred to pay by card. That was also the most popular option at a pastry shop, DaDonuts, “because we really don’t have enough euros in our till to give change back,” said a 17-year-old saleswoman, Elisabeth Stefanova.
In Buhovo, a town on the outskirts of Sofia, a shopkeeper, Elena Vladimirova, 56, said some customers tried to pay with Leva on Sunday “just to see what would happen.”
Some of her clients, particularly older residents, are worried about the transition, Ms. Vladimirova noted, and she has tried to reassure them that she will help them cope.
“We’re a small town and I know all my customers,” she said. “I often tell them, ‘There’s nothing to worry about. You show me the bills and coins, we’ll look at them together. We’ll figure it out together.'”