Whether Radev is an agent for the influence of his own stupidity and sick ambitions or of someone else's power - is not entirely clear. The president himself is impeached by history as a saboteur of European Bulgaria and a destabilizer of the state.
President Rumen Radev maliciously violates the Constitution and commits treason by demanding a referendum on the euro - both of which are simultaneously grounds for impeachment according to our basic law. With his possible removal from office, he aims to become a victim who will successfully catapult him onto the party-political terrain and head an anti-European and pro-Russian political alliance. Here is why:
A malicious violation of the Constitution
President Radev is not just knowingly, but quite maliciously violating the Constitution of Bulgaria with his proposal for a referendum on the euro, because he knows very well that this is unconstitutional – even his legal secretary Krum Zarkov resigned on this basis. Even during the consultations to form a government in the 48th parliament, at the meeting with the parliamentary group of “Vazrazhdane“ on November 9, 2022. he not only categorically refused to call a referendum on the euro (with their idea that it be postponed until 2043), but also argued very well for it.
Radev told Kostadin Kostadinov and his colleagues the following: “According to the Law on Direct Participation of Citizens in State Power and Local Self-Government, holding a referendum on issues regulated in already adopted and ratified international treaties is impossible. There are also restrictions under the Constitution. It is also clear from international law that international treaties have priority when they are ratified by national legislation, especially when it comes to the European Union. European law has primacy, complete, over our national law“.
When Kostadinov pointed out that the euro should be introduced only when we reach 90% of income in the EU, and until then to keep the leva, Radev advised “Vazrazhdane“ to monitor how the Maastricht criteria plan is being implemented and what the state of the eurozone will be in order to achieve better parameters. “But it is important that we strive to meet these criteria, because they are good for both the Bulgarian economy and Bulgarian citizens“, said the president, acknowledging that entering the eurozone is a desired national goal and steps towards it are inevitable under our EU membership treaty.
We can only give up the euro if we leave the EU
After “Vazrazhdane“ failed to convene a referendum through parliament to postpone the euro until 2043, together with the ITN, it tried to challenge before the Constitutional Court the refusal of the National Assembly on July 7, 2023, for such a nationwide referendum. In its decision of February 8, 2024 The Constitutional Court decided (with only one vote against) that the refusal was legal and gave extensive explanations as to why this referendum was unconstitutional. According to the court, the adoption of the euro is a "preliminary and binding condition" for a country that has signed the EU accession treaty. And, based on the BNB's terminology that European integration, including the adoption of the euro, represents an "evolutionary development", it clearly states that Bulgaria cannot unilaterally choose the date on which it will enter the eurozone. It could have postponed it for some time while it was in the "waiting room" (the exchange rate mechanism ERMII), but again only with a view to moving forward, until the criteria for adopting the euro are met. And the decision on the date for adopting the euro cannot be made unilaterally by itself, it is made only by the EU bodies after fulfilling the convergence criteria, with the final word being given to the EU Council.
The President is very well aware of this Constitutional Court decision. Just two months ago, on March 13, at a meeting with students at Plovdiv University, he clearly stated that he could not violate the Constitution by signing a decree on a referendum, and that by signing the EU accession treaty we had undertaken to introduce the euro. Now, however, the President is quite deliberately violating the Constitution, proposing essentially the same referendum question as "Renaissance", but with a wording for a postponement of at least 1 year (how much is unknown), and not up to 20 years. And thus he is misleading citizens that the result of the referendum would lead to valid legal consequences, given the impossibility of a unilateral revision of EU membership by the Bulgarian side. In other words, we can legitimately abandon the euro only if we decide to leave the EU. And Radev and his supporters supposedly do not want that. It is no coincidence that he demonstrates his cynicism precisely on Europe Day.
Treason by overthrowing democracy in favor of Putin
The presidential pathos was directed at the institutions suffering from low public trust, so Radev unprecedentedly addressed his address not only to the people but also to the National Assembly, but without speaking from the rostrum of the parliament. He encroaches on direct democracy, supposedly seeking a healing effect for the representative one as well. In the same decision, the Constitutional Court, however, reminds that according to our Constitution, these two forms of exercising state power are equal in rank, but both are based on the rule of law, at the top of which is the constitution itself. And by violating it, Rumen Radev is practically committing treason, undermining both sources of sovereignty - direct and representative democracy.
It also remains to be proven that his initiative was inspired by an external force, so that there is treason in a completely legal picture. But even at the level of political analysis, it is clear which external force benefits Bulgaria from stopping its European integration. And this is precisely at a time when the geopolitical order is completely shaken, and the European Union is trying to consolidate. And only two months before the convergence report and the subsequent expected positive decisions for our accession to the eurozone in 2026. It is obvious that Putin's Russia, after Orban's Hungary and Fitz's Slovakia, is seeking to engulf Radeva Bulgaria in its imperial orbit of satellites. And as a result, to stop its development.
Who wants impeachment
There are completely serious grounds for the impeachment of the president, but 160 votes are needed in parliament for this purpose. The maximum possible majority for his removal is 150 votes - with the votes of GERB, PP-DB, DPS-New Beginning and DPS-DPS - the formations that have firmly declared support for the eurozone. “Vazrazhdane“, “Velicie“ and MECH, as well as the coalition partner in the government – ITN, are categorically in favor of the referendum. BSP and Dogan's MRF have not yet spoken out on Radev's initiative, but they cannot be expected to support impeachment, regardless of whether they will vote against the referendum or will not participate in the vote at all for electoral reasons.
With his move for the referendum, Radev is making a statement that he is heading towards the political terrain, striving not only to unite anti-European parliamentary forces, but also citizens who are either against the euro or are just afraid and hesitant. The manipulation that the euro can be postponed, and otherwise we are not against its introduction, is the same as the one that peace will come if they stop giving Ukraine weapons. If Radev and Kostadinov want a fair fight against the euro, they should simply stand behind the position of raising inflation and the budget deficit, and then we can certainly stay out of the eurozone for many more years, as long as we wish. If they honestly want peace in Ukraine, they can at least call on the Russian aggressor to withdraw from its territory, and not say that the West is fueling the war with its aid. But people like Radev and Kostadinov are neither looking for solutions nor do they want to be responsible for them.
Radev himself is impeached by Bulgarian history
It is much more profitable for Radev to follow up with impeachment after the certain rejection of the referendum in parliament, for which a simple majority is required, in order to launch himself into the role of a victim on the party-political terrain. Apart from the fact that there is no prospect of such a large majority, it is also not reasonable to do him such a favor. It is better for him to resign himself, because this is the next mandatory move after his initiative - otherwise he will forever miss the opportunity and will have to serve out his term with heavy reputational losses. However, Radev's move does a favor to both GERB and PP-DB, because it once again opens up a horizon for a governing partnership between them - the threat to the country's European future may become the basis for such a partnership, as the war in Ukraine was for the assembly.
Whether he is an agent of influence for his own stupidity and sick ambitions or for someone else's will, or for both, is not entirely clear. The fact is that President Radev himself is already being influenced by history as the last saboteur of European Bulgaria and a destabilizer of the state in a difficult time of escalating global uncertainty.
This comment expresses the author's personal opinion and may not coincide with the positions of the Bulgarian editorial office and the State News Agency as a whole.