The Parliament decided that GD CRAS should examine the signatures for the referendum wheter Turkey should join EU

Deputies have voted that the president of the national assembly shall assign GD Civic registration and administrative service to make a data check-up of the civic subscription for holding a national referendum, reports the Bulgarian National Radio.

The Parliamentary Group of the Blue Coalition declared itself in favor of the request for referendum on the Turkish membership in the European Union, specifying that it should only be held after the European Commission calls on member states to sign the treaty on the accession of Turkey.

"The Parliamentary Group of the Blue coalition is in favor of the referendum. We offer the exact formula for the decision. If the negotiations with the Council of Europe result in a proposal for signing the Treaty of Accession of Turkey to the European Union, the position of the Bulgarian government on the signing must be announced after a referendum is held" stated Mr. Ivan Kostov from the parliamentary tribune.

"Bulgaria as a state, and the Bulgarian society, should state the position on the membership only after Turkey's negotiations with the European Commission are finalized", says Mr. Sergei Stanishev, Chairperson of Parliamentary Group of Coalition for Bulgaria, quoted by Focus Agency.

"There is certainly no Bulgarian citizen who will remain indifferent about the Bulgarian position on Turkey's membership. The initiative is to be discussed objectively. The over 300,000 signs collected deserve respect, so, the Parliament is to make an objective statement", Mr Sergei Stanishev said.

In his words government representatives ought to be present during the plenary sittings. The administrativeproposal for a National Assembly Decision on the referendum request is an escape of the particular matter, an escape in time.

Representatives of the Parliamentary Group of Ataka Party left the plenary hall, as their protest was provoked by the decision that the Project for Decision for holding a national referendum drops from the agenda.

RZS Party pointed out that Mrs Tsetska Tsacheva, the president of the National Assembly is setting an example and thus they will support the draft resolution because it would be a step forward, said Yane Yanev.