Bulgarian anti-euro campaigners have set up a protest camp in the centre of Sofia dubbed the ‘City of the Lev’. 

The 10-day protest was launched after Bulgaria was given a green light for eurozone entry by the European Central Bank and the European Commission, which issued positive convergence reports at the beginning of June. Bulgaria is expected to join the eurozone on January 1, 2026. 

However, Bulgaria’s adoption of the euro has faced strong opposition by the far-right pro-Russian Vazrazhdane party and President Rumen Radev. 

The Civil Committee for Protection of the Lev, in which Vazrazhdane is involved, launched the 10-day protest on June 28. Campaigners plan to block the centre of the Bulgarian capital Sofia until July 8, when the final decision on the country’s accession to the eurozone should be taken by the ECOFIN committee.

Vazrazhdane claimed in a statement on its website that Bulgarians are being forced to enter the eurozone by Brussels, and has launched a campaign under the slogan ‘The fight for the lev is the last fight for Bulgaria”.

Subsequently, the party’s leader Kostadin Kostadinov, dubbed Kostya Kopeikin because of his open pro-Russian orientation, said during a plenary parliament session that the party will destroy the eurozone from the inside.

While the protests are not expected to gather strong support, citizens of Sofia launched a petition urging the local authorities to ban the blockade of the centre, calling it a civil harassment.

Those signing the petition demand that Sofia city municipality annul its permission for the blockade and explain why it has allowed “occupation of the city by a specific political party”.

Meanwhile, Vazrazhdane initiated  a fresh no-confidence motion against the government of Prime Minister Rossen Zhelyazkov because of its eurozone entry activities and alleged failure in financial policy. As the Gerb-led ruling coalition has a comfortable majority, the vote is expected to fail.