The main political parties in Bulgaria’s parliament boycotted a scheduled debate on whether a national referendum should be held on postponing the adoption of the euro until 2043, tabled by the radical pro-Russian party Vazrazhdane.
The initiative practically aims to block the introduction of the euro in the country, even as a parallel currency, in the next 20 years. However, it is facing a silent boycott by most of the political forces in the parliament, Euractiv Bulgaria’s partner segabg.com reported on Thursday.
The referendum issue was included in the agenda of the parliamentary budget committee. However, its session failed after not a single MP from GERB and the pro-European coalition between the We Continue Change party and Democratic Bulgaria formation (PP-DB) showed up.
The Turkish minority party was presented by only one MP, who is the chairperson of the committee, and the Bulgarian socialist party and the populist ITN party had one representative each. So even though all the “Vazrazhdane” MPs came for the session, the quorum was not enough for the committee to sit.
Nevertheless, the MPs admit that the referendum proposal needs to be discussed sooner or later.
The Referendums Act says that Parliament must decide on a referendum proposal within three months of the proposal being tabled if the law requirements are met. The signature collected by the Vazrazhdane party was submitted to the National Assembly on April 7 of this year, leaving one week until the deadline expires.
Vazrazhdane MPs commented that they expected the proposal to enter the plenary next week, even if it did not pass the necessary committees before the deadline. They accused their opponents of ignoring the will of 470,000 citizens supporting the proposal.
Finance Minister Asen Vasilev announced on Wednesday that the new Bulgarian government had started negotiations with the EU Commission to introduce the euro as a parallel currency to the Bulgarian lev as early as 2024.
Bulgaria changed its initial target to join the Eurozone from 1 January 2024 to 1 January 2025 as the previous parliament’s lack of political will and high inflation blocked the process. The referendum may also become an obstacle.
The new government in Sofia is supported by the pro-European anti-corruption coalition PP-DB and the GERB party of longtime former prime minister Boyko Borissov, which also lobbies in favour of the euro.
(Krassen Nikolov | EURACTIV.bg)
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