Bulgaria is expected to receive the green light from Brussels in June to adopt the euro as a member of the European Union, but the change is worrying many of its citizens amid widespread misinformation.
"If Bulgaria joins the eurozone, it will be like boarding the Titanic," Nikolai Ivanov, a retired civil servant, told AFP during a protest calling for the lev to remain the national currency.
Adding fuel to the opposition movement are painful memories of the economic crisis that ravaged the country between 1996 and 1997, when 14 banks went bankrupt and inflation exceeded 300%.
Several recent polls have shown that nearly half of the population surveyed opposes Bulgaria's accession to the eurozone.
This controversy has reignited anti-EU propaganda, with many euro opponents waving Russian flags at protests.
Bulgaria, which joined the European Union in 2007, is the bloc's poorest country.
"The poor fear they will become poorer," said Boriana Dimitrova, director of the Alpha Research Institute.
This fear, coupled with a loss of trust in government institutions after years of instability, has created fertile ground for anxiety about economic change among the population of 6.4 million.
This fear has been fueled by some political parties, including the far-right Vazrazdani party, which called for a new anti-euro demonstration in the capital on Saturday.
This week, it accused the government of failing to implement measures to enable the "most vulnerable" to withstand the shock of adopting the single currency.
Eurostat figures indicate that a third of Bulgarians were at risk of poverty or social exclusion last year.
In small towns and rural areas, where many people do not travel abroad or conduct international transactions, a large segment of the population is hesitant and skeptical about adopting the single currency.
In addition, misinformation is circulating on social media claiming that adopting the euro will lead to "Brussels confiscating your savings to finance Ukraine."
Dimitrova told AFP that Radev was making a "carefully calculated political move," appealing to a segment of voters frustrated by the difficulties of living.
However, his proposal for a referendum, which was deemed "unconstitutional," was opposed by a wide range of legal experts, as well as by National Assembly Speaker Natalia Kiselyova, who refused to put the issue to a vote.
Pro-European voices, on the other hand, are struggling to get their message across.
"In Sofia and the larger cities, where the population is better off, better educated, and younger, this step is seen as a logical development in the process of European integration," Dimitrova said, now that institutions and banks are ready and the currency designs have been approved. The 2-euro coin bears the inscription "God Save Bulgaria."
However, referring to the widespread lack of information and sense of inadequacy in Bulgaria, Dimitrova added, "Some people still ask me if they will be able to use the Bulgarian euro in France or Germany."
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