President Radev again refers changes to the Constitution to the Constitutional Court

The Head of State has again referred to the Constitutional Court over the amendments to the Constitution adopted by the 49th Parliament, the President’s press secretariat said on November 20.

President Rumen Radev today sent a second appeal to the Constitutional Court with a request to declare as unconstitutional the amendments to the Constitution passed by the 49th Parliament, related to the abolition of the ban on dual citizenship as a mandatory condition for the election of MPs, to the ill-considered introduction of the principle of the continuity of the term of office of MPs and Parliament, as well as to the formation of a caretaker government.

In his reasoning, the Head of State emphasises his consistent positions, justifying the need to refer the matter to the Constitutional Court again also by the emergence of a number of new circumstances which have become apparent in the application of the contested texts. The contested amendments to the Constitution "abolish the mechanisms of political accountability in the formation and functioning of the bodies of state governance", the President states in his reasoning.

In his request to the Constitutional Court, the Head of State noted that the second referral would allow clarifying a number of controversial points that have already marked the procedures for forming a caretaker government under the new procedure and which continue to hinder the functioning of constitutionally established bodies, including the Parliament itself.

Even now, some of the difficulties in the selection of the Speaker of the 51st Parliament are related to the fact that the post of the Paraliament’s Speaker is listed in the Constitution as eligible for appointment as caretaker Prime Minister.

President Radev refers Constitution amendments to Constitutional Court

Bulgaria’s Parliament conclusively adopted the changes in the Constitution