Bulgaria Needs Referendum on Unemployment, Ecology – Finance Minister

Finance Minister Simeon Djankov has said that Bulgaria needs a referendum on the issues of unemployment and environmental protection.

"Unemployment is the top problem in Europe, where there are 28 million unemployed, given that the number swelled by two million only in 2012," Djankov stated, as cited by Sega daily, adding that the issue was serious enough to deserve wide debate.

He claimed that Europe had resorted to a number of misguided policies in the sphere of unemployment over the past 4-5 years, causing the Old Continent to lag behind the rest of the world.

Djankov visited the northern city Lovech on Monday to inspect the construction of a sports hall at a local high school.

Bulgaria's Finance Minister suggested that ecology was another topic worthy of a referendum.

"A referendum is worth organizing because there are different opinions," Djankov declared, adding that some people believed that intense construction would bring instant profits, while others assumed that building at a slower pace would ensure greater sustainability, thereby attracting wealthier tourists in the longer term.

Djankov suggested that the topic of the January 27 referendum on the development of nuclear energy in Bulgaria had been silly, as a result of which 80% of the people had not bothered to vote.

Bulgaria's Finance Minister argued that he referendum initiated by the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) had shown Sergey Stanishev to be a weak leader incapable of steering the state and even his own party.

The results of the January 27 referendum on the development of nuclear energy in Bulgaria through the construction of a new nuclear power plant showed that the issue would be conclusively decided by Bulgaria's Parliament.

The official turnout at the referendum was 20.22%, of whom 60.60% voted "yes" and 37.96% voted "no" to the question "Should Bulgaria develop nuclear energy through the construction of a new power plant?"

The invalid ballots were 1.436%.