Vazrazhdane's bill on the Bulgarian language does not require ministry names to be written in Latin letters, party leader Kostadin Kostadinov told reporters in the parliament corridors. He was responding to a report on a website that claimed the text allows exactly that.
Vazrazhdane is a pro-Russian party that analysts and media describe as anti-European and anti-NATO. Russia has been waging a full-scale war on Ukraine since February 2022. The EU and Bulgaria back Ukraine and the sanctions on Moscow.
Parliament passed the bill at first reading yesterday. MPs backed it unanimously, with 153 votes in favour, while the DPS party did not take part in the vote. The deadline for proposals between the first and second readings was extended to the maximum of three weeks, to smooth out the texts.
Kostadinov called the report disinformation. "I am naming this site on purpose, because I believe media that claim to give reliable information must protect their name, not slide into the role of disinformation propaganda loudspeakers," he said.
He said the article claims the bill requires ministry names to be written in Latin letters. It even shows how "Ministry of the Interior" would look in Latin script. There is nothing like that in the text, Kostadinov said firmly.
He said the bill states that spoken and written expressions, announcements, signs and inscriptions in public spaces must be in Bulgarian. The same goes for buildings, vehicles and officials' uniforms. A Latin transliteration may appear under the Cyrillic text, under the Transliteration Act.
A foreign language may be used under a special law, or in trade and tourism. Kostadinov said this covers resorts, businesses and so on.
The Transliteration Act, the Vazrazhdane leader explained, sets out one clear way to render Bulgarian place names, names of historical figures, cultural ideals and terms of Bulgarian origin in the relevant field of science into Latin letters. This is done with a specially made version of the Latin alphabet. It does not mean Bulgarian phrases can be carried over into Latin letters automatically, he added, because the Transliteration Act does not allow it.
Kostadinov also spoke about language norms. He said Bulgarian has three literary norms. "We have an official literary norm, which is in Latin letters. But this is a regiolect, which means a regional form of the Bulgarian language raised to a standard written norm," he explained.
The Vazrazhdane leader said he had expected attempts to ridicule the bill, but had not thought a serious news outlet would tell what he called "outright lies" and disinformation.
Finally, Kostadinov pointed to the English sign at the entrance of the National Assembly. He said it is wrong, because it reads "National Assembly", and "national" means "национално", not "народно". Even foreign-language signs are illiterate, he concluded.