The Bulgarian Parliament may postpone the referendum on the euro initiated by “Vazrazhdane” for more than a year. This became clear from the words of Professor Nataliya Kiselova to Nova TV. The deadline for parliament to decide on this referendum expires on Friday.
“If the parliament approves holding a referendum, ‘We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria’ will contest this decision before the Constitutional Court. If it refuses, ‘Vazrazhdane’ and ‘There Is Such a People’ will refer the refusal to the Constitutional Court.
In both cases, it goes to the Constitutional Court, but if there is a decision, the court will have to rule within one month. In the second case, the procedure can take more than a year,” she explained.
According to Kiselova, the parliament has several options for action.
“The first is to accept the proposed question without interfering in the editing, the second is to reject it, which has never happened before. It is also possible to propose to change the deadline for adopting the euro – editing of the text of the referendum – NSI and Eurostat will assess when Bulgaria has reached the necessary economic indicators for adopting the euro,” explained Kiselova.
She also comments on whether the parliament will violate the Constitution if it allows this referendum, which opinions have already been expressed from lawyers.
“The law did not provide for preliminary control of the questions presented by the Initiative Committee, which are to be discussed by the National Assembly. For this reason, only when a referendum is called, then it can be said whether it is unconstitutional. The law has made it possible for the question to be edited,” Kiselova said.
And added:
“When editing the question, one can now think about achieving the economic criteria. Two things must be present in the debate – at what point Bulgaria will have a certain percentage of income compared to the total for the Eurozone, as well as an explanatory campaign and one for payment with cards”.
The lawyer Atanas Kirchev believes that the referendum to preserve the leva is categorically unconstitutional.
“There will be a referral to the Constitutional Court, things are clear. The conditions for adopting the euro are clearly fixed, without a fixed deadline. A possible referendum that postpones the adoption of the euro would change an internationally settled procedure,” he said.
And he added that there is a very serious legal justification for not allowing the referendum.
“With the member countries, at the beginning there is always a greater rejection of the euro, subsequently with clarification and more information, the fears disappear. In Bulgaria, there is a very strong anti-euro campaign organized by pro-Russian forces.
The state maintains a passive role, which is unacceptable, we are obliged to conduct an explanatory campaign,” explained Kirchev.