Is Bulgaria the only country that hasn't held a referendum on joining the EU and the Eurozone? No, that's not true: Eleven member states (Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain) have never held a referendum on EU membership. Nine out of 20 Eurozone countries, including Germany, Belgium, and Italy, adopted the euro without a specific referendum. Other countries held referendums on treaties that included provisions for Eurozone membership. Bulgaria discussed holding a referendum on the Eurozone, but it was rejected by parliament.
The claim appeared in a TikTok video (archived here) published on March 2, 2024, with the following caption, translated from Bulgarian to English by Lead Stories staff:
Bulgaria is the only country that did not hold a referendum on joining the EU or the Eurozone.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Wed March 6 20:28:03 2024 UTC)
A false claim has been circulating on social media (archived here and here), inaccurately stating that Bulgaria is the only country that hasn't held a referendum on its EU and Eurozone membership. This statement insinuates that the majority of member states have held national referendums on their accession to the EU and the Eurozone.
The "Referendums on EU issues" report (archived here), released by the European Parliamentary Research Service in April 2022, clarifies that Bulgaria isn't the only EU member state that hasn't held a referendum on EU or Eurozone accession, as there are other countries in the same situation. The introduction to the report states:
Since 1972, Europe has seen 58 referendums on EU matters, concerning membership, treaty ratification or specific policy issues (e.g. adoption of the euro). [...] Despite the increased interest in some states, referendums remain controversial. On the one hand, advocates of direct democracy stress their role in engaging citizens, improving legitimacy and inclusive governance. On the other hand, criticism highlights their pitfalls, with critics particularly suggesting, in the aftermath of the French and Dutch rejection of the Constitutional Treaty in 2005, that voters tend to answer questions other than those on the ballot paper in referendums.
The report highlights that membership referendums constitute the bulk of EU-related referendums, with 24 out of the 58 conducted, seven of which took place in Norway, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. It also points out on page 12 that:
membership referendums have never taken place in 11 Member States (Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain).
Nine Eurozone (archived here) countries, including Germany, Belgium, and Italy, adopted the euro without holding specific referendums. These countries transitioned to the euro as their sole currency on January 1, 1999 (archived here), initially in electronic form. Greece (archived here) followed suit on January 1, 2001, just before the physical euro coins and notes replaced their national currencies in the Eurozone.
The Treaty of Maastricht (archived here), signed in 1992, laid the groundwork for the adoption of the euro by EU member states. There are six remaining states bound by EU treaties to introduce the euro once they fulfill the required criteria: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Sweden. Among them, only Bulgaria currently participates in the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM II) (archived here), a prerequisite for euro adoption. The timing of their euro adoption is subject to their readiness and compliance with the criteria.
The only countries that have held a referendum on the EU single currency are Denmark and Sweden. In 2000, a majority of Danish voters voted against Denmark joining the Eurozone. In 2003, Sweden also voted against joining the single currency:
(Source: European Parliament Referendums on EU Issues Report (archived here), pg.24 screenshot taken on Wed March 6 22:39:33 2024 UTC)
Denmark initially rejected, in 1992, the Maastricht Treaty, which established the Economic and Monetary Union, and then negotiated four opt-outs (archived here), including one on the euro. It held another referendum on joining the euro in 2000 (archived here), but the proposal was again rejected. Sweden joined the EU in 1995, accepting the obligation to adopt the euro, but held a referendum on the issue in 2003, which resulted in a majority against the euro (archived here). Sweden has not joined the exchange rate mechanism ERM II, which is a prerequisite for joining the Eurozone (archived here).
In July 2023, the Bulgarian Parliament rejected (archived here) a draft proposal of the far-right Vazrazhdane Party (archived here) to hold a referendum that would postpone Bulgaria's entry into the Eurozone for twenty years. In February 2024, the Bulgarian Constitutional Court also rejected (archived here) the initiative to hold a referendum. Despite these rejections, the issue remains a topic of debate and interest in Bulgaria.
