site.btaVazrazhdane Demands National Statistical Institute President's Resignation and Arrest for Manipulating Data Relevant to Bulgaria's Euro Changeover

On behalf of the Vazrazhdane parliamentary group, MP Viktor Papazov told Parliament that his party demands the immediate resignation and arrest of National Statistical Institute (NSI) President Atanas Atanasov for manipulating data relevant to Bulgaria's fulfilment of the criteria for euro area accession. 

Vazrazhdane strongly condemns "the large-scale criminal scheme being played out in the National Statistical Institute under the leadership of its President - Atanasov, related to the falsification of inflation data in Bulgaria." Papazov said that Vazrazhdane has data from its own research, according to which the manipulation of data is a deliberate and purposeful distortion of statistical information for a specific economic and political purpose.

"The main reason for the data manipulation is that Bulgaria meets the criteria for joining the euro area," he said. According to him, real inflation rates in Bulgaria are much higher than those officially announced. In his words, if the objective data are presented honestly, Bulgaria will not meet the Maastricht criteria needed to join the eurozone. "It is for this reason that the NSI, under the dictates of the government, is falsifying the economic picture in order to prepare Bulgaria to adopt the euro by force, despite the clear resistance of the Bulgarian people," the MP said. The declaration states that this is "high treason against the interests of the Bulgarian citizens".

In late January, Vazrazhdane leader Kostadin Kostadinov said on National Radio that keeping Bulgaria out of the eurozone is his party's top priority. He threatened that if entry was secured by "fake data", his party would spearhead street protests, the people would storm Parliament and the Council of Ministers, and "we will set you on fire". 

On February 22, Vazrazhdane organized a rally against the adoption of the euro, when protesters stormed the building of the European Commission in Sofia. Protesters threw red paint, firecrackers, and eggs at the building, and set the door on fire. Firefighters, gendarmerie units, and ambulances were dispatched at the scene. The government condemned Saturday's actions of the Vazrazhdane party in a statement to the media.