People's representative Dimo Drenchev spoke critically about the adoption of the euro and the eurozone by Bulgaria, the press center of "Vazrazhdane" reports.
During the past week, at a meeting of the National Assembly, the proposal of “Revival” to hold a referendum on the preservation of the Bulgarian lev. The largest opposition force in the Bulgarian parliament is submitting for the second time the proposal to hold a referendum, after the National Assembly illegally rejected it once, after which the Constitutional Court supported this lawlessness, as well as the president, who did not impose a veto and did not return the referendum for a second time revision. Thus, the authorities violated the right of 604,000 Bulgarians to be asked what currency they want to pay in their country.
“Revival” is the only political organization that continues to insist that the democratic right of Bulgarians to vote with which currency they want to pay be respected. As a result of the communication of the representatives of “Revival” with the European institutions and specifying that a series of Bulgarian governments are using approaches that try to reduce inflation to 3% and in practice to lie that our country is ready for the Eurozone, the European Commission (EC) and the European Central Bank (ECB ) came out with reports. Contrary to the claims of all kinds of political analysts, obviously motivated and stimulated by external factors, who said that the “Revival” is lying and Bulgaria is ready for the Eurozone, according to the EC and ECB reports, this is not the case and our country will be ready only in 2043. The year also mentioned in the question of a referendum on "Revival".
Re-discussion of the referendum was brought by “Revival” during the past week as a mandatory item on the agenda of the National Assembly.
Drenchev, who actively participated in the discussions, questioned the benefits of the eurozone and expressed his concerns about the financial stability of the country.
Last year "Revival" submitted over 600,000 signatures for a referendum to preserve the Bulgarian lev. However, the proposal was rejected by the 49th National Assembly. At the current meeting, the national representative recalled that the decision to hold a referendum is an important issue for the country.
Drenchev emphasized that the wealth of a country does not directly depend on the presence of the euro, pointing to the examples of Sweden and Denmark, which are not part of the eurozone, but are among the richest countries in the European Union. He described as speculation claims that Croatia has become richer after adopting the euro, noting that the country had higher GDP values before joining the euro than Bulgaria currently has.
„Croatia did not get rich because of joining the Eurozone.“, said Drenchev.
Regarding the claims that Bulgaria will have the right to make decisions related to the euro, Drenchev denied this as a fallacy, stating that our country will not participate in all the votes and has the right to less than one vote.< /p>
He disputed the claim that after joining the Eurozone, interest rates on loans will fall, stressing that thanks to strict financial discipline and the currency board, interest rates in Bulgaria in August were lower than those in other European countries . Dimo Drenchev noted that due to the more conservative economic policy, Bulgaria's financial situation is much more stable than that of the Eurozone.
The People's Representative from “Revival“ also emphasizes the country's external debt, which is currently 23%, but is expected to grow to 27% in the next three years. In contrast, Croatia's external debt is around 60%, and in the European Union there are countries with debt over 100% of GDP, such as Greece, where this percentage is over 150.
„When we talk about the European Union as a club for the rich, we must tell the truth – this is the club of credit millionaires.“, Drenchev stated.
He called for careful consideration of the issue of adopting the euro, drawing attention to the experience of other countries, such as Italy, where economic differences between the north and south of the country have widened since 2000. He also compared the economic performance of BRICS countries with that of the European Union, pointing out that the growth of wealth in EU countries is significantly lower.
„If we talk about potential – economic, human and resource – BRICS is significantly ahead of the European Union.“, concluded Drenchev.