The Speaker of the National Assembly Natalia Kiselova predicts that the Constitutional Court will only partially allow the request of President Rumen Radev regarding the canceled referendum on the euro. In a special interview with Georgi Lyubenov on BNT, she stated that the court is obliged to file a case, but it will probably be partial.
"In my opinion, the Constitutional Court will partially allow the request and I think that it will not have the expected result, since the reasons state that the Speaker of the National Assembly has powers that are exhaustively listed at the constitutional level," Kiselova said.
The Speaker of the Parliament specified that she expects a case to be filed for the interpretation of a constitutional text, but the court cannot rule on whether her decision of May 13 is null and void. In response to President Radev's arguments, Kiselova emphasized that the Constitution provides for a regulation that the National Assembly adopts.
"In the regulation, the President has 17 powers and in addition to them, there is also the possibility of other laws providing for powers for the President. So I do not think that this is correctly formulated and a correct reading of the constitutional text", she added.
The tension between the institutions escalated after on May 13, Kiselova returned the President's proposal for a referendum with the question: "Do you agree that Bulgaria should introduce the single European currency, the euro, in 2026?". Her arguments were that the request contradicted the Constitution, the EU accession treaty, and the referendum law.
In response, President Radev referred the matter to the Constitutional Court for a mandatory interpretation of the Constitution and declaring the refusal of the Speaker of Parliament to consider his proposal null and void.
According to constitutionalists, the technical nature of Kiselova's order makes it difficult to challenge it before the Constitutional Court, since the Supreme Court only considers acts voted by the plenary hall.