Bulgarian winemaker braces for switch to euro

Bulgarian businesses are preparing to say goodbye to the lev currency ahead of a move to adopt the euro on January 1, a long-awaited milestone met with excitement, scepticism and, in some corners, anger.

For winemaker Natalia Gadjeva, the move means easier trade across borders without needing to convert currencies.

"There will be no need to exchange Bulgarian levs for euros," Gadjeva said, adding "when our customers shop through our site, it would also be much easier for them to see prices and pay directly in euros."

Ahead of the shift, prices of everything from fruit to bottles of wine are displayed in both levs and euros. Government-funded billboards show the euro-lev exchange rate with a message saying: "Common past. Common future. Common currency." Television adverts have also flagged the coming change.

Bulgaria, a Black Sea country on the European Union's southeast frontier, will be the 21st country to join the euro currency zone after it met the formal entry criteria this year, including for inflation, budget deficit, long-term borrowing costs and exchange-rate stability.

Production: Fedja Grulovic, Malgorzata Wojtunik, Thomas Holdstock/Reuters