site.btaUPDATED Vazrazhdane, TISP Move for Referendum against Euro Changeover

Two parties in Parliament, Vazrazhdane and There Is Such a People (TISP), are submitting a motion for holding a referendum against the euro changeover. The move was announced to the press by Tsoncho Ganev MP (Vazrazhdane). "It is an initiative that Parliament rejected a few months ago but a Constitutional Court decision subsequently did not say that the question was anti-constitutional. It is exactly why we are re-submitting the question," said Ganev.

The referendum will ask the question "Do you agree that the Bulgarian lev should be the only official currency in Bulgaria until 2043?"

Toshko Yordanov explained that if the motion for the referendum goes through, TISP will campaign for a "No" answer. "But the decision must be made by Bulgarian people - not by a group of politicians who think they can decide on behalf of everybody," he said.

On July 7, 2023, the National Assembly rejected a proposal by Vazrazhdane to hold a national referendum with the same question. The decision was appealed by the parliamentary groups of Vazrazhdane and TISP, as well as by an independent MP. At the end of July, 2023, the Constitutional Court admitted the request of the 49 MPs for consideration on the merits. On February 8, 2024, the Constitutional Court adopted a decision dismissing conclusively the referendum initiative.

TISP floor leader Toshko Yordanov said that his party supported the referendum motion, "including for ethical considerations, because they made an effort and collected the number of signatures that are required for holding a referendum". He added that TISP are in favour of abandoning the lev for the euro "but when this country is ready for it". "The previous Parliament violated the Constitution and its own law on referendums and dumped in the waste bin the will of 604,000 Bulgarians," he added.

He also said, "If Bulgarian people say that they want in the eurozone, we will join it regardless of Vazrazhdane's position that we don't belong there".

Asked how they picked the year 2043 in the question, Tsoncho Ganev said that European Central Bank and World Bank has calculated that Bulgaria wouldn't be ready before that.