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ECB’s Lagarde Welcomes Bulgaria to Euro Area, Notes Geopolitical Uncertainty

1 January 2026

ECB’s Lagarde Welcomes Bulgaria to Euro Area, Notes Geopolitical Uncertainty
Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, at the ECB Governing Council press conference on December 12, 2024. Photo by Angela Morant/ECB under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde on Thursday welcomed Bulgaria as the euro area’s newest member, noting that the area was facing an uncertain geopolitical situation.

“I warmly welcome Bulgaria to the euro family and Governor [Dimitar] Radev to the ECB Governing Council table in Frankfurt,” said Lagarde in a press release issued by the ECB.

“The euro is a powerful symbol of what Europe can achieve when we work together, and of the shared values and collective strength that we can leverage to confront the global geopolitical uncertainty that we face at the moment,” she said.

The Bulgarian National Bank had paid the remainder of its contribution to the capital of the ECB and transferred its contribution to the ECB’s foreign reserve assets, the press release said. Bulgarian counterparties of the Eurosystem would be able to participate in any open market operations of the ECB after today, it said.

“Assets located in Bulgaria that fulfil the necessary requirements will be added to the euro area’s list of eligible collateral,” according to the ECB.

Bulgaria has now also joined the Eurosystem’s TARGET services for settling payments, for settling securities, for settling instant payments and for collateral management of Eurosystem credit operations, the ECB said. “The migration of Bulgarian counterparties went smoothly, and all services are now active,” it said.