The Head of State: We Have a Future and What Bulgaria’s Tomorrow Will Be After the State of Emergency is Over Depends on Our Common Sense, Actions and Solidarity Today

The National Assembly passed the State of Emergency Measures Act. The state of emergency was declared by virtue of resolution on 13 March. My decision is to impose a veto on part of the act and to return it for a reconsideration in the Bulgarian Parliament, the presidential press office reported.

The crisis requires that the institutions and the public should pool efforts. The trust which the power holders earned should be rationally utilized, it should not be a prelude to an uncontrollable exercise of power.  The lack of staff, of equipment and capacity in our healthcare system and deficiencies in organization are compensated by extremely restrictive measures which increase the tension and aggravate the crisis itself, under which conditions the medical staff and the people in vital productions and services work.

The Act attacks the last remains of the freedom of speech. Although there is no definition of false information, the Bulgarians are threatened with the imposition of heavy fines and imprisonment. The experts, journalists and citizens will be forced to impose on themselves self-censorship, moreover, in conditions of a dynamic change of our understanding of the pandemic, of its perception and the need for alternative positions. This norm may be used to interpret any uncomfortable free thought. And even more importantly - according to the adopted Act, this restriction will remain in force also after the state of emergency is over.

Dear compatriots,

Currently the world and Bulgaria in particular are faced with two parallel crises: the first one is the health crisis, caused by the coronavirus, and the second one is the economic and social crisis, caused by the measures for fighting the virus. The economic crisis is currently...