The Duran Podcast - Bulgaria to enter EUROZONE trap

Episode Date: June 11, 2025

Bulgaria to enter EUROZONE trap

All right, Alexander, let's talk about what is going on with the Eurozone and its newest member, starting on January 2026. Bulgaria will be adopting the Euro. Big mistake. What a big mistake for Bulgaria. Well, Alexander, your thoughts. Real quick, the people are going to be crying, the politicians. and the oligarchs are going to be laughing and smiling.

No. Your thoughts. Well, you said newest member, why not say the truth, new as victim? Because that is what it is. The fascinating thing about this is that you put it exactly what. The oligarchs, of which Bulgaria, by the way, has oligarchs, to be absolutely clear. You know Bulgaria. I mean, I know Bulgaria very well because I have family connections in Bulgaria. Bulgaria has oligarchs. It has a very, very tightly controlled and at the same time,

deeply polarized political system. The elections don't happen in the kind of atmosphere, free atmosphere, that ideally you would like them to happen. The sentiment amongst a large section of the Bulgarian people, almost certainly, in my opinion, a majority of the Bulgarian people, if this discussion were to happen in a free and open way, would be to strongly oppose this thing.

The oligarchs, of course, in Bulgaria will do extremely well because they'll be able to take their money in and out of Bulgaria as they choose. They'll be able to have their money in euros. The Bulgarian values will be tied to the euro. Jack up crisis. Exactly. They will make themselves immensely rich. And they will be able to borrow in euros from European banks, at European interest rates,

and they'll be able to do those things. And of course, the politicians that they control, and to repeat again, Bulgaria has oligarchs. And what are oligarchs? They are people who are not only immensely rich, but who control the political process. They are very keen on this, unsurprisingly, and that's why it's been passed through the parliament. And let's be frank, in Bulgaria, as in most countries in the EU, there's all sorts of people who continue to believe in the European fantasy, as I would say. And, you know, they will provide noisy and voluble support for this thing. And, you know, they have dreams of being able to go to wherever they want in Europe

and free travel and they'll have euros in their pockets. And some of the older people will be happy that their pensions are going to be paid in euros. But this is going to crush Bulgaria. It's going to crush the Bulgarian economy. It's going to make it much more difficult to develop any kind of industrial system in Bulgaria, which is already creaking. To say that this is bad for Bulgaria, it would be a huge understatement. It makes no economic sense for Europe either. I mean, Bulgaria is likely to become another burden on the central economies of Europe, Germany and the rest. I mean, even if it isn't given bailouts, it will have to be given quiet

bailouts. But why are they doing this? Because the EU is no longer an economic project. It has ceased to be an economic project long ago, but it has ceased to be that completely in the last three years. It is not an economic project. It is not a trade association. To understand, understand that it is not an economic project. Take your mind back a few weeks. You remember Mario Draghi coming up with a great economic plan on how to upgrade the European economies? You remember how we were all talking about that for one or two or three days?

Does anybody talk about that now? Nobody talks about Mario Draghi's plan. He is complaining about the fact that nobody is talking about Mario Draghi's plan. What they're talking about is dragging Bulgaria into the Eurozone because they need to control Bulgaria because that's how you control a country by controlling its currency, by controlling people's access to money because they have this grand strategic project to make the EU a major power in the Black Sea and to drive the Russians out of the Black Sea. and they've even published it. They actually published their great plan about how they're going to push the Russians out of the Black Sea and make the Black Sea an EU lake. So there it is.

Yeah, everything's going to get a hell of a lot more expensive in Bulgaria. Boy, oh boy, is it going to get very, very expensive, trust me. It's going to get very difficult to make a living, to eke out a living in Bulgaria, once it goes to the euro. But it's a lock-in, isn't it? It's the European Union also locking in the country, taking over their sovereignty. There is no such thing as a sovereign country

unless you control your currency. There's no such thing. No. You're not a sovereign country if you can't control your currency, if you can't print your currency, if you can't inflate, devalue, whatever. You're not a sovereign country. Once you give over your currency, and that is what Bulgaria is doing.

So this means that whether Bulgaria likes it or not, whether the Bulgarian people like it or not, the Black Sea, this Black Sea project that Kayakalis outlined, it's going to happen. Bulgaria is going to play a significant role. It's going to backfire incredibly, but they don't care. And Bulgarians are going to be used as pawns in this. geopolitical fantasy to control the Black Sea and to fight with Russia. And if they don't like it, Alexander, if they protest even a little bit, well, they're just going to shut off your freaking ATM machines. And the protests will last for about a day.

Exactly. And I speak from experience. Absolutely. There you go. A Slav Orthodox country, historically, very, very close to Russia, culturally, politically friendly to Russia. Many of the people in Bulgaria, as I know, still are. Not everybody is, but many, many people are. And as I said, this is now what it's going to find itself obliged to do. I mean, what is it? You could argue one bank, the European Central Bank,

one bank to rule them all, and in the darkness bind them. Yeah. So Romania's next, I guess. Absolutely, of course. That's exactly where he's going. That's exactly where it's going. And so just to end the video, what is the EU, what do you think the brilliant mind of Kayakalis, what do you think the strategy is for this Black Sea project? I mean, it's, okay, so you're going to, you're going to get Romania's next. You got Bulgaria now in 2026. Romania is going to be next.

They're going to lock down Romania as well. Moldova is going to obviously play some sort of a part. How do you get this point? plan to control the Brexit. How do you push this forward? And you're going to try and get Erdogan on side. Right. Tell you to the way Erdogan would want to play on side. Of course, I mean, he always plays his own games, which are very complicated. But I mean, he's equally likely to betray you, us to work with you. And, you know, more likely than not at some point, he will, because Erdogan plays the Europeans like a violin, frankly. He's probably telling them all kinds of

things. And they'll do all sorts of deals with it. But I mean, the plan. What are the geniuses? What are the geniuses in Brussels and in NATO as well? Yeah. What do you think they're, how are they envisioning this? I mean, it looks like they're going to lose their chance of establishing bases in the Black Sea, in Ukraine. Oh, well, they've already set it all out.

They're going to establish naval bases in Constanza, in Bulgaria. They've already talked about, you know, railway lines and expanding ports. facilities and creating bases and all of that kind of thing and shipyards and they're going to project power into the Black Sea. That's what they fantasize. And no doubt they will be hoping that Erdogan will not only lend the support of the Turkish military to this project where you probably allow more warships to transit into the Black Sea through the Dardanelles, maybe even get the Straits Convention modified in some kind of way. So, I mean, that's the plan. It is a complete fantasy. I mean, it is a complete idiocy.

And of course, what benefit accrues to Europe from doing any of this? I mean, it only makes sense if you are obsessed with Russia and want to wage perpetual conflict against Russia. But the idea of militarising the Black Sea of all places, taking on the Russians there is lunacy. But, you know, since when did these people act with anything like rationality, they never have and they never will? And, you know, because for them, an endless conflict with Russia is their way to promote their geopolitical project in the EU. And ultimately, this is what this is all about. But as I said, it makes no geostrategic sense. It makes no economic sense.

Without Ukraine, the whole idea of establishing great basis on the Black Sea makes no sense at all. It doesn't look as if they'll be able to have bases in Ukraine. The idea that Romania and Bulgaria can be substitutes is foolish. But what it will do is it will involve these. countries in this geopolitical chess game and it will provide even more opportunities for the EU center to control their politics. Right.

Just to make it clear, the EU is not looking at an expansion into Ukraine with this move. They're just looking to build up the bases in Romania and in Bulgaria so they can come along and they can say, okay, Turkey's a player in the Black Sea, Russia is a player in the Black Sea, but so are we. Yeah, but yes. But I mean, this is a substitute for the loss of Ukraine. Right. Because the original idea, going back to 2013 and beyond, was that you get Ukraine into the

EU and into NATO, you push the Russians completely out of the Black Sea. The neocons in the US are always much more forthright about these things, have openly spoken about it. You establish NATO bases in Crimea, in Odessa, and those sort of places, and then you drive the Russians out of the Black Sea completely. You can't do that now, because nobody any longer seriously believes that Crimea is going to fall under NATO or EU control. It is looking Istanbul plus, if that's on the basis upon which the war ends, which is the best Ukraine can come, you know, can hopeful, would prevent bases being established in the Ukrainian Black Sea coast. And it's likely anywhere. We won't get Istanbul Plus. We could easily

see Russian control of the Black Sea. So we have to come up with this new plan, which is to establish bases in Bulgaria and Romania and to try to project power into the Black Sea in that way. And the The ultimate idea is, is to choke off Russia's seaborne tray. So you already have a strong grip in the Baltic because most of the countries in the Baltic are hostile to Russia and our members of the, well, all of the countries on the Baltic, apart from Russia itself, are hostile to Russia and are members of NATO and the EU. So you try to reproduce something like that in the Black Sea. which is actually much more important for Russian trade than the Baltic is.

Yeah, but what's Russia's response? I mean, Russia looks at this, and obviously this is going to provoke a reaction from Russia. Even from Turkey as well. I mean, I can't imagine Turkey looking on and liking the fact that the EU is trying to set up shop in the Black Sea. I mean, they must not be liking. Let's talk about Turkey first, because this is where Erdogan is going to play. one of his games, he's going to pretend to go along with this until and get as much as he can from the EU and they will probably give him quite a lot or so he thinks. But ultimately, you are

absolutely right. He does not want the EU in the Black Sea. I mean, as far as he is concerned, there are only two important powers in the Black Sea. One is Russia, which he may not like that, but that's the reality. And the other is Turkey. He certainly doesn't want the EU and the EU leaders who he collectively despises to establish a presence of the Black Sea.

The Russians will, of course, be completely opposed to this because this is straightforwardly directed at them. And they will be perfectly aware of these plans, and that will make them even more determined to keep the EU out of Ukraine. Now, there was a lot of talks, if you remember, back in April 2022, about in the Istanbul, the original Istanbul agreement

that Russia would support Ukraine's entry into the EU. And there was discussion still about this way back a few weeks ago. But when the Russians met with the Ukrainians in Istanbul on the 2nd of June, the Russian memorandum said, nothing about Russia backing Ukraine's EU entry. I think the Russians are turning against that idea. And of course, this plan will make them even more determined about that. It will harden Russian positions on Ukraine's EU membership with Russian officials like Lavrov openly saying now, the EU is not an economic or trade association. That was what it might have. have been once long ago, but today it is a geostrategic project, a kind of military alliance.

It is clearly an anti-Russian alliance. We cannot have Ukraine in the EU. And I think in a few weeks time, at the next iteration of the Istanbul talks, assuming that if we ever get there, you will see that that is going to be the Russian position. Yeah, but my final question is, is what does what can Russia do to counter this move? Is there something they can do? There is absolutely. I'm not talking about military action. I'm talking about diplomacy, geopolitical. I mean, what does Russia do to do? Very, very difficult for them to do very much if countries like Bulgaria and Romania make the catastrophic decision of joining the euro. I mean, that is the trouble. I mean, how do you break that? I mean, they can tell them, Bulgarians, you know, this is a huge mistake that you're making, but then that will bring about

the whole usual narrative that Russia is interfering in Bulgaria's internal affairs and all of that. I know for a fact that in Bulgaria, they can listen to Russian television broadcasts, and because there is enough similarity between Bulgarian and Russian, they can to a great extent understand what people in Russia are saying about this. So Russia does have influence, it has historic contacts, it has all of these things, and there is that cultural affinity as well. And we still have until 2026 before it happens. But ultimately, Russia can't control what happens in Bulgaria and Romania. It is up to those countries. If we get into a situation where Bulgaria joins the euro and Romania eventually does so, then they are trapped. And until the point comes,

when the entire EU project collapses, whether they like it or not, they will become more pawns in this geopolitical chess game against Russia that they have no real interest in, and in fact, which is disastrous for themselves. It will make Russia an enemy. And at the same time, of course, they will have to accept terrible sacrifices in their economies. Yep. And they will be militarized as well. Absolutely. Of those countries. All right. Militarized against Russia. Okay. In Romania's case, Russia and Romania have generally for most of the last 200 years been adversaries. But in the case of Bulgaria and Russia, it has been entirely different. I mean, Bulgaria owes its independence from Turkey to Russia. They've always always being strong relations between Bulgaria and Russia. I mean, it will be a massive cultural break

for its people and perhaps a very difficult one. All right. We will end the video there. The durand.com. We are on Rumble odyssey. But shoot. Telegram and X go to the Duran shop, pick up some merch like what I'm wearing in this video update. There is a link in the description box down below. Take care.