President Rosen Plevneliev will conduct consultations with political parties represented in Parliament to achieve agreement on the wording of the question to be put in a referendum. A petition with the signatures of more than 500 000 Bulgarian citizens was presented to the National Assembly requesting a referendum on nuclear development by building a nuclear power station at the Belene site.

According to the President, the forthcoming referendum is a test for democracy, must be carried out in the interests of citizens and should not be postponed because of political opposition and administrative procedures. The President believes that the way the debate about formulating the question and the question itself will go will make clear the attitude of the political elite to direct democracy. The President calls for a serious and expert to enable citizens to make informed choices.

According to the President, in meeting these conditions, regardless of the outcome or the number of votes, the referendum will be a success for Bulgarian democracy.

The consultations will begin Friday October 12, at 12.50pm at 2 Dondoukov Boulevard with the leadership of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, as the initiator of the petition for the referendum. Meetings with the leaderships of GERB, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, the Blue Coalition and Ataka will follow.