“Today I am leaving for a long-planned visit to Japan, which will elevate our relations to the level of a strategic partnership. In the meantime, scenarios are being orchestrated in political circles to stifle important public issues. The manipulations that my proposed referendum is against the euro are an insult to the intelligence of the Bulgarians. My goal is clear – every Bulgarian citizen should be able to have a say on our readiness to introduce the single European currency in 2026.”
This is what Head of State Rumen Radev said. Here is what he also said about the actions of the National Assembly Speaker Natalia Kiselova, who returned his proposal for a national referendum without putting it to a vote in the plenary:
“My proposal is already bearing fruit – the debate on our real readiness to adopt the euro next year has finally started. We have finally heard from the mouths of Mr Peevski and Mr Borissov the words prices and the need for control. Too late and under pressure.
I would like to draw attention to the course of processes that have unfolded in a country that has recently adopted the euro – the prices of basic goods and especially services rose significantly and rapidly a few months before the introduction of the euro, with the adoption of the convergence report. Subsequently, with the introduction of the euro itself, price caps had to be introduced on a number of goods, but this was a temporary measure.
The question here is, can this happen here? I sincerely hope not. However, on the one hand, the neglect of the problem, the lack of financial buffers, of adequate bodies and timely measures, and the fact that 30%, or one in three Bulgarians, is at risk of poverty, and 1 300 000 Bulgarian citizens are below the poverty line, according to the National Statistics Institute, generates certain risks, and we should not close our eyes to them. The nature of these risks is such that it is precisely people with an already low standard who can lower it even further in a short time, while the economy, even with accelerated growth in the euro area, which we all hope for, will take years to bring them back up to standard.
I therefore expected to see a package of measures at the same time as sending a request for an emergency report. I did not see them a month later when the budget was adopted. On 5 May, the Treasury also came out with figures showing that first-quarter budget receipts lagged by 20% amid record spending, borrowing and regional imbalances.
That is why I have proposed a public consultation on our readiness as a country and as a society to adopt the euro in 2026, because both the benefits and the risks lie with the people. And it is the government that must inform them frankly, convince them and seek their support. If they do not get it, they will have a year to convince them, not with incantations, but with real action.
Unlike the many MPs who have turned their backs on their constitutional duty to represent not just their constituents but all Bulgarian citizens, I will continue to represent all Bulgarian citizens, including the poor, the voiceless and the dissenting. Because solidarity is more important than currency. If we lose solidarity, the social fabric quickly disintegrates.
The road to currency does not go through the carcass of democracy and the law. It goes through the ballot box. That is why I will continue my efforts to ask the Bulgarians in a referendum. I will also refer the unprecedented violation of legality by the National Assembly in the person of its President to the Constitutional Court.”
