Nearly 28.5 per cent of the Bulgarian territory had to become part of the European Natura 2000 environmental network, Petko Tsvetkov from Bio-diversity foundation said.

Tsvetkov said that 225 Bulgarian areas needed to become environmentally protected regions.

Bio-diversity foundation already tabled the suggestion in the Council of Ministers, Focus news agency reported. More than 10 ecological organisations supported the proposal and nearly 50 000 people signed it.

On January 23 ecologists met Parliament speaker Georgi Pirinski to discuss inclusion in Natura 2000. Pirinski said that a balance between conflicting interests had to be found.

Nearly 100 people gathered in the garden close to the National Assembly to support the demands of the environmentalists. Representatives of various NGOs and environmental organisations joined the demonstration.

On the other hand representatives of various municipalities requested minimal inclusion of territories in the European network. According to local authorities the restrictive measures related to environmental protection would push away investors and slow down regional development.