To put it mildly, what happened with the euro referendum is scandalous. The Speaker of the National Assembly cannot single-handedly divert or return the president's proposal. The Speaker's functions are to make schedules, to schedule meetings of the National Assembly. She seized the functions of the National Assembly, such a case has never happened before. Such scandalous actions by a Speaker of the National Assembly have never been committed before. This was stated by lawyer Rumyana Chenalova to BNT.
„It is indisputably clear, and Radev said it two months ago, that such a referendum is unconstitutional. His legal advisor was not consulted on this either. We saw in the lack of motives for this proposal that there was no legal justification. There was a retelling of the speech that Radev gave us on national television. If he wanted to be honest, he should have proposed a referendum on whether we want to leave the EU, so as not to violate our commitment under the accession treaty”, emphasized Petar Slavov, a doctor of constitutional law.
„We have a request that Radev will refer the matter to the Constitutional Court. He may request an interpretation, but this does not affect the procedures that are underway. What Kiselova did was debatable, but the Constitution does not provide for holding unconstitutional referendums”, he reminded.
Chenalova does not think that the president contradicts himself: „The issue of adopting the euro is unconditionally settled. But the issue that has been formulated by the president concerns the introduction of the euro, not the adoption – this concerns two different processes. One decision terminates the derogation, the second fixes the exchange rate and sets a date for its introduction.”
According to her, the difference between this referendum and the one of “Vazrazhdane” is in the words “acceptance” and “introduction”.
Slavov believes that the details are clear: “The most interesting thing, however, is that people who were involved in the bankruptcy in 1997 are now the biggest defenders of how stable the lev is and how we should protect it.”