site.btaPresident’s Proposal for Referendum on Euro Adoption Still Lies with Parliament, Says VP Iotova

President Rumen Radev's proposal for a national referendum on the introduction of the euro is still registered with the National Assembly, Vice President Iliana Iotova told journalists on Thursday.

In May, Radev proposed to the National Assembly to resolve on holding a national referendum in which Bulgarians would be asked whether they agree to the introduction of the euro in Bulgaria in 2026. Former National Assembly Chair Nataliya Kiselova rejected the President's proposal, arguing that it is inadmissible because it is inconsistent with national and EU law. At the end of May, Radev referred the matter to the Constitutional Court. On November 18, the Constitutional Court ruled that the Parliament Chair does not have the competence to determine the admissibility of a national referendum and to reject a proposal made by an entity empowered by the law.

"I see no grounds for the President to submit his proposal once again. The Constitutional Court’s ruling is categorical and clear, Kiselova grossly violated the Constitution with her unilateral decision," Iotova commented. She explained that after the Constitutional Court’s decision, the process should resume exactly where it stopped - in the National Assembly.

"The governing majority will not in any way allow a discussion on the referendum or on the euro and its introduction. Six months later, the questions Bulgarian citizens have are far more numerous than they were in May. Despite all the government’s promises, they have been unable to cope with galloping prices and with the fact that prices are rising far more quickly than people’s incomes. Everyone will have to answer for themselves whether the President was right when he asked whether we are ready for the euro," Iotova said.

The rise in prices is not linked to the euro itself but to the government’s inability to deal with speculation, the Vice President noted.

Asked whether there would be a referendum, Iotova replied that the time for this had irretrievably passed, because "everything possible was done to prevent this discussion from taking place in our society". "It is better to focus on how to overcome the crises that keep coming. It is clear that neither is the deficit 3%, nor is inflation what the government imagines it to be, nor have they dealt with any issue related to the standard of living of Bulgarian citizens," she emphasized.