Led by MEP Petar Vitanov (S&D), supporters of Bulgaria’s pro-Russian President Rumen Radev have launched a referendum to keep 3 March as the country’s national holiday in response to the ruling coalition’s plans to change the national holiday to Slavic Script Day on 24 May.
Each year on 3 March, Bulgaria celebrates the signing of the San Stefano Peace Treaty between the Russian and Ottoman Empires after the two-year war for the liberation of Bulgaria from Ottoman rule in 1877-1878. The Day of Slavic Script celebrates the Slavic alphabet invented 1,200 years ago.
However, because the two-year war to liberate Bulgaria from Ottoman rule in 1877-1878 was successful for Russia and divided Bulgarians, some Bulgarians see this national holiday as a symbol of Russian interests in Bulgaria. Radev was one of the first to defend the holiday, saying on 19 August that it was “the red line of our patience, which the people’s movement will not allow to be erased”.
The president’s words have now crept into a referendum proposal, with Vitanov announcing on Monday: “We are people of various professions and political biases, but united by the national cause of protecting 3 March as a national holiday.”
Some participants in the initiative to counter the government’s proposal were also in the Initiative Committee, which nominated Radev for a second presidential mandate.
The idea of switching national holidays was included in proposals for constitutional amendments submitted at the end of July by the pro-European coalition Continuing Change-Democratic Bulgaria, the GERB party of long-time prime minister Boyko Borissov and the DPS party of the Turkish minority.
But Radev himself is not part of the initiative, Vitanov said in response to a question at the press conference. The proposal is “not to create a political party, but to ask whether the Bulgarian people want to change their national holiday,” he explained. Nevertheless, some political analysts link the initiative to the future presidential party, especially in the context of Bulgaria’s upcoming local elections.
Meanwhile, when asked if he was for or against a referendum to change the national holiday, Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov replied: “Let this be a political discussion to be held in the National Assembly. That’s the place for this discussion. I have repeatedly said that I support 24 May being a national holiday because it is the symbol that leads us to the future.”
Most Bulgarians (69.3%) believe 3 March should be preserved as a national holiday, as a result of a recent Gallup International poll show.
To submit a proposal for a referendum to parliament, the initiative committee must notify parliament that it is starting to collect signatures for the referendum.
Referendums can only be called to decide on issues of national importance, but only within the competence of the National Assembly.
(Krassen Nikolov | EURACTIV.bg)
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