Preslav Borissov, Bulgaria's Deputy Agriculture Minister has resigned on April 29 2010, Bulgarian media said quoting Agriculture Ministry.

According to the media, reasons Borissov presented to Agriculture Minister Miroslav Naidenov, who has not made any comment on the issue, were personal ones.

There is still no information on whether Naidenov has accepted Borissov's resignation or not.

Preslav Borissov entered the spotlight some weeks ago, when his name was linked to a set of amendments to the Agricultural Land Conservation Act, which imposed limitations on the construction of solar panels and wind turbine parks on agricultural land.

According to the amendments, which are yet to be approved by Parliament, solar panels could only be built on agricultural land of rated as fifth and six category. That would prevent construction of installations on most of Bulgaria’s arable land.  

According to the amendments, the limitation would be applicable only to the construction of solar panels. The bill envisioned centralised control over the issuing of permits for the construction of renewable energy installations, while now that is decided at local level.

The proposal was backed by farmers in the Dobroudja region, in northeastern Bulgaria, who wanted an end to the construction of wind parks or solar panel parks on their rich soil. Predictably, the changes were harshly critisised by business groups, who said that the amendments were discriminatory and threatened to take the issue to the European Commission.

When the Ministry announced the amendments, it reasoned that that they were a way to prevent speculation with agriculture land by investors who might use solar parks as an excuse to build on agricultural land. That way the land will be conserved for farming purposes, the ministry said.

Now media speculations suggest that the resignation of Preslav Borissov was tied to the fact that his family was one of the biggest grain producers and land owners in Dobroudja, which is by far one of the most suitable areas for solar and wind parks. A number of wind parks have already been built there in recent years and more have been planned.

By keeping investors in solar parks away, landowners would be able to acquire more and more land at its current relatively low price, 24 Chassa daily said.

Approached by Bulgarian-language daily Trud, Borissov's father dismissed the allegations against his son as "vile slander" and "complete nonsense". "We have never intended to buy any state-owned land anywhere," he said.