President Georgi Purvanov has signed a decree proclaiming June 7 2009 as the day when Bulgaria will hold its elections for Members of the European Parliament, news agencies said on April 2 2009.

Purvanov made the announcement at a news conference held at the Presidency on April 2.

He is yet to announce the date for the country's regular elections for Bulgaria's Parliament, which are also scheduled for this summer. According to Purvanov, these elections could happen between June 28 and July 5 2009.

Bulgarian-language Dnevnik daily quoted Purvanov as saying that he would set a date for the elections "after Parliament does its job and adopts all amendments to the elections legislation".

The amendments to which Purvanov referred were those stipulating the introduction of a majority element in the elections for the national Parliament. Purvanov said that he was ready to initiate a referendum on the issue if Parliament would fail to introduce the majority element in the elections.

He also criticised Parliament for not accepting one of his ideas regarding party financing. As previously reported by The Sofia Echo, Purvanov suggested that all party donations should go to one public bank account, aiming to made party financing more transparent.

"Intentionally or not, a lot of loopholes in election legislation have been created," Purvanov told reporters.

Appointing Bulgaria's MEP elections for June 7 2009 officially marks the end of a prolonged debate between the ruling Bulgarian Socialist Party and the opposition.

The opposition said that both elections should be held on one day to save money and time, while the BSP claimed that such a move would be unconstitutional as it would have meant ending the term of the current Parliament ahead of schedule.