Paschal’s Bulgarian Gamble : Ireland Turns Blind Eye to Bulgarian Oligarchy with Sofia’s Eurozone Entrance

While Brussels and Dublin hail Bulgaria’s entry into the eurozone as a triumph of integration, few in the Department of Finance are asking the uncomfortable question: what happens when you share a currency with a captured oligarchical state?

The ink dried on plans for Bulgaria to enter the eurozone from January 2026 last week as Paschal Donohoe presided over Sofia’s diplomatic confirmation that it would be joining the currency bloc.

Plagued by economic stagnation, failed governments and deep ties to the Kremlin, plans by Bulgaria to ditch its native lev are done with the primary economic intention of bringing the post-Soviet state firmer into the European economic core.

As President of the Eurogroup, Ireland’s Paschal Donohoe helped usher Bulgaria into the eurozone. But with its judiciary compromised and elites sanctioned abroad, did we just invite a Trojan horse into the currency?

The modern Bulgarian state was formed in the flames of the Soviet collapse where quickfire privatization created a perverse culture of interconnected elites. Strategic industries (energy, telecoms, etc) were sold below market value with EU cohesion funds often used to shore up a new oligarchic class.

Bulgarian politics was merely downstream of this oligarchy with EU membership in 2007 as anti-corruption protests brought down the Europhile GERB party of Boyko Borissov in 2021. Successive elections since 2021 failed to produce stable governments as The Ukraine war has intensified Bulgaria’s geopolitical balancing act with Russophile elements becoming a key passage country for Azeri gas to replace Gazprom.

The Ukraine war has pushed Brussels to fast-track Bulgaria’s eurozone and Schengen entry as a geopolitical anchor despite unresolved rule-of-law issues in a sign that the EU is prioritizing security over governance.

If rule of law and good governance are supposed to be the bedrock of the eurozone, Bulgaria’s accession exposes just how selectively those principles are applied and how willing Ireland is to look the other way.

While Ireland has been keen to slam Orban’s Hungary it has been rather silent on their Bulgarian equivalents in Sofia. Ireland effectively endorsed Bulgaria’s integration without pushing for stricter conditionality on corruption to make the geopolitical deadlines.

Bulgaria’s eurozone entry means Ireland now shares a currency with a state penetrated by Russian influence and oligarchic interests. Bulgaria accounts for less than 1% of eurozone GDP, making it too small to pose systemic financial risk to the bloc for those concerned about a repeat of the eurozone crisis. As Bulgaria enters the eurozone with unreformed structures, the EU sends a clear message that political loyalty counts more than civic standards.

In shepherding Bulgaria into the eurozone without confronting its structural rot, Paschal Donohoe has helped normalise an EU where geopolitical optics trump democratic standards. Bulgaria’s accession underlines how the EU is evolving from a union of rules into a union of expediencies and under Paschal Donohoe’s watch, the Eurogroup has sanctioned that shift.