site.btaVazrazhdane Resubmits Motion for Referendum on Keeping Lev as Bulgaria's Currency

The Vazrazhdane Parliamentary Group has tabled in Parliament's Registry a draft resolution on the conduct of a national referendum on keeping the lev as Bulgaria's national currency until 2043.

"We gathered 52 signatures [under the draft resolution]," said Vazrazhdane Floor Leader Kostadin Kostadinov, specifying that, in addition to his parliamentary group, MPs of Morality, Unity, Honour (MECh) and Velichie have signed, too.

Under the law, at least one-fifth of the 240 MPs, or a minimum of 48, may initiate a motion for holding a national referendum.

"From now on, the motion should pass through the committee stage," Kostadinov said. "It has already been debated once, and has been rejected. We don't harbour any illusions that it will pass now, but we are obliged to do what are constituents have sent us here for," he pointed out.

This is the nationalist party's third attempt to block Bulgaria's entry into the eurozone.

In April 2023, Vazrazhdane submitted to parliament a petition bearing some 600,000 signatures for holding a referendum on the same question. The National Assembly defeated the motion, and the MPs took the case to the Constitutional Court, which ruled that such referendum was unconstitutional.

An identical motion was entered in July 2024, this time backed by There Is Such a People as well. The legislature rejected this draft, too, in December 2024.