12 municipal councilors from Blagoevgrad also want a referendum on June 9 | Faith

12 municipal councilors submitted a signature at the end of the working day on April 23 with a request to include an extraordinary item in the agenda of the regular session of the local parliament on Friday, to convene a referendum, regarding the proposal of the municipality of Blagoevgrad to assume a long-term debt in the amount for 14.5 million BGN.

The councilors’ proposal is that the referendum be held on June 9, when the citizens will vote for the Bulgarian and European Parliament and answer the question: “Should the municipality of Blagoevgrad take on a long-term debt /loan/ in the amount of 14.5 million BGN?” According to them, the costs of the referendum will be in the amount of BGN 20,000. The chairman of the local parliament, Radoslav Taskov, defined the expenses as untrue and impossible. “The second thing that strikes me is that they have fixed the date of June 9, which I think is also inapplicable. If the bill enters the agenda, it will answer a number of questions, including why the amount cannot be BGN 20,000 and why it is impossible to hold such a referendum on June 9.”

Taskov pointed out that the holding of a local referendum is one of the obstacles in the country as a whole not to be used by the local authorities – extremely difficult procedures for holding it and costing too much. He recalled that the partial local vote, which was held in Blagoevgrad Municipality, cost about BGN 780,000 and predicted that a referendum would cost about BGN 500-600,000. “If the Municipal Council decides to accept this point, after the referendum, more than 50% of the voters in the territory of the municipality must give their opinion on the subject, so that the answer to this question – whether it is “yes” or “no” – becomes mandatory for the Municipal Council. If more than half of the voters did not vote in the referendum, the decision on this issue must be made by the Council of Ministers. Why should we hold a referendum for hundreds of thousands of BGN, since in the end the State Council will make the final decision?” – said Taskov. He pointed out that the held public discussion clearly showed the attitude of the people regarding the proposal of the municipality of Blagoevgrad. “Of course, we all have anxiety when it comes to debt. But it is also obvious – that these funds are extremely necessary for the Municipality of Blagoevgrad in order to stabilize its financial situation and, above all, to complete the projects that have been started. Because I didn’t hear an answer to the question: if we don’t approve this proposal, do we refuse to strengthen the landslide that threatens to close the road to “Bachinovo” and “Kartala” at any moment? Do we abandon the construction of Promishlena Street? No one answered these questions. This is the alternative to not taking on this debt.”

Taskov was categorical that politics and populism have no place when the local government has to decide such issues./BNR