site.btaPresident Radev Asks Constitutional Court to Nullify National Assembly Chair's Rejection of His National Referendum Proposal

Bulgarian President Rumen Radev on Friday approached the Constitutional Court with a petition to issue a binding interpretation of the Constitution and to nullify the refusal of National Assembly Chair Nataliya Kiselova to include his proposal for the conduct of a national referendum on Parliament's agenda, the head of State's Press Secretariat said in a press release.

Earlier this month, Radev tabled a proposal to the legislature 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. Kiselova returned the proposal to the President, arguing that it was inadmissible because it is inconsistent with particular provisions of the Constitution, the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the Treaty concerning the Accession of the Republic of Bulgaria to the European Union, the Act concerning the conditions of accession of the Republic of Bulgaria and Romania and the adjustments to the treaties on which the European Union is founded, and the Direct Citizen Participation in State and Local Government Act.

In his petition, the President asks the Constitutional Court to determine whether a National Assembly chair is constitutionally competent to exercise discretion about the admissibility of the conduct of a national referendum by setting aside a proposal made by a constitutional authority empowered by law to make it.

He relies on a provision in the Constitutional Court Act, which obliges the Court to declare an act null and void when it has been issued by an incompetent authority.

Radev reasons that the exercise of constitutional authorities' powers in national referendum conduct procedures should ensure a balance between direct and representative democracy. "This is the only way to attain the objective of the Constitution of guaranteeing citizens' participation in State power," the President writes.

"The basic law does not tolerate a tacit waiver of the National Assembly power to rule on a proposal for the conduct of a national referendum. The opposite would imply a renunciation of the parliamentary form of government," Radev argues.

In his opinion, only a binding interpretation of the constitutional provisions regulating the powers of the National Assembly and its chair in implementing the forms of direct democracy will ensure the clear and non-conflicting application of these provisions.

The head of State maintains that, in terms of its content, Kiselova's order de facto rules on the merits of the matter raised and thus usurps powers of the National Assembly that are established by the Constitution. This order "bars the pursuit of statutorily regulated proceedings, gives rise to uncertainty, and restricts citizens' right to participate directly in State power, which makes it incompatible with legal order and procedural logic," the President's reasoning reads.