Photograph: iStockBulgaria has just become the 21st member of the euro zone, leaving six member states of the European Union (including Denmark and Sweden) outside. So far, Bulgarians haven’t shown the same enthusiasm for the euro as Ireland did when euro notes and coins were issued for the first time on New Year’s Day 2002. Six years earlier, in 1996, Ireland and Sweden undertook separate research studies to assess whether, on balance, adopting the euro would be beneficial. In the event, on joining the euro, Ireland enjoyed lower interest rates, and investment and growth boomed. But if euro zone membership may have contributed to the financial crisis in Ireland, Spain, Portugal and Greece, membership proved beneficial in terms of the subsequent bailout.

Source: The Irish Times January 12, 2026 14:00 UTC