Bulgarian Socialist Party to Try to Appeal New Debt of BGN 16 B at Constitutional Court

The Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) has drafted an appeal to the Constitutional Court against the new debt of BGN 16 B.

A motion needs to be backed by at least 48 MPs to reach the Constitutional Court, with BSP having a total of 39 MPs, according to dnevnik.bg.

BSP Chair Mihail Mikov announced Friday that the appeal would be presented to other parties at the beginning of the new parliamentary session so that they could back it.

Speaking after a meeting of the BSP Executive Bureau, Mikov made clear that the demand to declare unconstitutional the law on the ratification of the agreement with the 4 banks would be presented to the ABV Movement (Alternative for Bulgarian Revival) to give them the opportunity to correct their mistake, Mikov said, commenting on the lack of continuity as regards the stance of the left-wing party on the new debt.

On February 10, Bulgaria's government informed that it had chosen four banks to manage its EUR 8 B bond program over the next three years - Citigroup Global Markets Ltd., HSBC Plc., Societe Generale, Unicredit Bank AG. Under a bill drafted by the government, the maximum maturity of the bonds was set at up to 30 years and the maximum interest rate was fixed at up to 10%.

Mikov went on to speak about judicial reform, stressing that BSP would not back proposals which were solely aimed at staff changes.

He voiced his disapproval of the proposal to establish two units within the Supreme Judicial Council (VSS) through changes to the Constitution, adding that it would lead to increased isolation of the members of the two units.

Mikov, as cited by the BGNES news agency, underscored that BSP would say whether or not they would back Constitutional amendments once they saw the concrete proposals of...