05.08.2017
Prime Minister Boyko Borissov asked the Minister of Environment and Water Neno Dimov to stop the implementation of the ordinance, which prohibits all activities on the territory of the region of Balchik, Kavarna, and Shabla that fall within the range of “Natura 2000”. The Prime Minister commissioned Minister Dimov and his team to hold a meeting tomorrow with the mayors of the three municipalities and with representatives of the initiative committees in order to discuss the situation that arose from the decision of the Court of the European Union and seek together for the most suitable solution for all sides to the case and the state after the huge damage that has been caused by previous governments.
The decision of the Prime Minister is based on a detailed analysis of the situation in the region of Dobrudzha and the impossibility for people there to accept it – the situation being the result of unreasonable and wrong government decisions at the time of the Coalition of Three and Minister Dzhevdzhet Chakarov.
Borissov asked Minister Dimov to establish contact with the Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Karmenu Vella and, jointly with the NGOs that are at the core of the process for preparing the lists of territories to be included in “Natura 2000”, invite him to visit the region and get acquainted with the different viewpoints at first hand.
At the next meeting of the European Council, the Prime Minister will discuss with the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker the issue and the hundreds of millions that Bulgaria must pay in penalty as a result of the decision.
The Prime Minister called upon all sides to return to the public discussion of the problem, and to review the work that has been done on the case through the years so as to minimize the damages that the Bulgarian taxpayers will have to pay for.
We remind of the fact that back in 2006 the government of Sergey Stanishev commissioned green non-governmental organizations to determine the zones within “Natura 2000” instead of assigning the task to scientific institutes as has been done in other EU states. In 2008 two lawsuits have been filed against Bulgaria. The signal refers to 600 projects – among those guesthouses, croplands, wind power generators and others. In 2014 Bulgaria was convicted in a lawsuit filed by the EC. The most recent developmet of this time-bomb-like situation is from March 2017 when the caretaker government made the commitment to issue this ordinance before 31 March but did not do it.
