Bulgarian Ex-EU Commissioner Urges Boycott of Nuclear Referendum

Bulgaria's former European Commissioner, Meglena Kuneva. Photo by Sofia Photo Agency

Bulgaria's former European Commissioner, Meglena Kuneva, has called upon her party's supporters to boycott the upcoming referendum on the fate of nuclear energy in the country.

The referendum was originally intended to revive the abandoned Belene nuclear power plant. However, the ruling centrist-right GERB removed any specific reference to the Belene project in the referendum question.

Kuneva, leader of the recently formed Bulgaria for Citizens party, has now described the referendum as "pointless."

"The Bulgaria for Citizens movement has urged its supporters to boycott the referendum scheduled for January 27," she has told reporters.

Kuneva has stated that the referendum's purpose is to distract people from GERB's economic failures.

The party also believes that the referendum's goal is to serve the mutual interests of GERB and the Bulgarian Socialist Party.

The referendum was initially triggered by the oppositional Bulgarian Socialist Party's desire to revive the abandoned Belene nuclear power plant project.

The pro-Belene party launched a petition for a referendum on the Russian-Bulgarian project's fate after the ruling centrist-right GERB scrapped the project in March. The original question of the petition was: "Should nuclear energy be developed in Bulgaria through the building of a Nuclear Plant at the Belene site?"

However, GERB's parliamentary majority decided to edit the question, removing any specific reference to the Belene project. The ruling party stated that a referendum on a particular project would be unconstitutional.

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