Why can't there be a referendum on the introduction of the euro in Bulgaria?

The question of a referendum on the introduction of the euro in Bulgaria is periodically raised. After in late May the government adopted the plan for the introduction of the euro, the leader of "Vazrazhdane" party Kostadin Kostadinov said that his party started consultations for initiating a national referendum on the topic. Yesterday, November 1, an initiative committee announced that it would petition for such a referendum. However, there can be no such referendum.

According to the Law on Direct Participation of Citizens in State Power and Local Self-Government, referendums on issues regulated by international treaties concluded by the Republic of Bulgaria may be held before their ratification.

"The euro is part of Bulgaria’s EU accession treaty, which has been ratified by law. This deadline has been missed by 15 years," Juliana Nikolova, director of the European Institute, told BNT.

"The introduction of the single European currency is part of the member states' obligations laid down in the EU treaties. Before the Maastricht Treaty of 1992, member states at that time had the possibility to negotiate an exception. Only the UK and Denmark had requested and done so. For those joining later, as in the case of Bulgaria, such an option was available in the membership negotiation process. Bulgaria has not raised such a question because in Bulgarian society there has not been such a question at all", Borislav Tsekov, PhD in constitutional law, points out.

According to Juliana Nikolova, a referendum on the introduction of the euro would be possible only if a constitutional majority were to be gathered to make a change in the basic law allowing such a referendum. Such a possibility does not exist in the current political situation.

According to Borislav Tsekov, a referendum on "when to introduce the euro" is also unacceptable. In his Facebook profile Tsekov points out that Bulgaria’s EU accession treaty said when - when the member state meets the Maastricht budgetary and economic criteria.

"The fulfilment of this treaty obligation is not a 'gig of choice', but is subject to a clear procedure and specific criteria, in which the political choice of the state is limited only to the possibility to accelerate the procedure, but not to delay or postpone it at its discretion," Tsekov wrote.

Both Juliana Nikolova and Borislav Tsekov believe that 400,000 signatures would not be collected for a referendum on the euro. Even if this hypothetically happens, however, there can be no referendum because it would be stopped by the Constitutional Court.

Why, then, is the subject raised periodically?

Juliana Nikolova says that the topic is raised because "to preserve the Bulgarian lev" sounds patriotic. The other reason, according to her, is that there is not enough opposition that such a referendum is impossible.

According to Borislav Tsekov, "a petition for such a referendum would be a punch in the air. A demagoguery that will only result in a waste of public time and energy as well as divert attention from the real problems of the nation and their solutions."

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