In the case of the euro referendum, proposed by the president and rejected by the then speaker of parliament - Natalia Kiselova, the Constitutional Court has already taken procedural actions. The Constitutional Court is working hard on the issue and when we are ready, the issue of the admissibility of the submitted request will be raised. This was announced in the studio of “From the Day” on BNT by constitutional judge Orlin Kolev.
He stressed that the issue of the admissibility of a specific request should be discussed:
“That is, whether the Constitutional Court has already ruled on the same issue or on an issue that is meaningfully close and the principles can be derived, on the one hand. On the other hand, the desire to provide an answer to the specific question should also be taken into account. We have a practice in the Constitutional Court to reject such requests when the Constitutional Court has ruled. But also on similar issues, the Constitutional Court has allowed their consideration. So this is coming, and very soon.”
We must be aware of the national legislative framework, as far as direct democracy or the so-called referendum is concerned, the constitutional judge noted:
“That is, which issues are admissible in referendums and which are excluded from the subject of the referendum, on the one hand. On the other hand, we should keep in mind the subjects who refer the National Assembly with a request for a referendum. Of those listed in the Law on the Direct Participation of Citizens in State Power and Local Self-Government, only one entity - this is an impersonal entity, this is a community - an initiative committee, which has collected the signatures of over 400,000 Bulgarian citizens with voting rights, which can practically oblige the National Assembly to make a decision. All other entities that can refer to the National Assembly with a request to hold a referendum could only send an invitation or proposal, i.e. request from the National Assembly without obliging it. In this sense, the relevant case should be examined at least through these two directions.”
Orlin Kolev was categorical that “the referendum is a form of expression of sovereignty, national sovereignty, as well as elections, but the referendum as a form of direct democracy is set in accordance with certain legislative frameworks and when the sovereign wants to exercise these rights through a referendum, he should comply with these very restrictions and legislative frameworks”.