It seems that Bulgaria might become the only country in the European Union whose government approved all zones proposed by environmental scientists for inclusion in the Natura 2000 environmental network. The “little” difference, however, is the presence of Item 3 in the Natura 2000 resolution, which allows all regions with already approved regional development plans or master plans to drop out of the network’s coverage, which will basically allow further construction all along the Black Sea coast and in many other natural areas of significance in Bulgaria.

“Our foreign colleagues were astonished when they heard what the situation was here,” Yordanka Dineva of Biodiversity Foundation told The Sofia Echo during the protest held in front of Council of Ministers building on November 22. “It is normal that the governments of the other EU countries do not approve the full plan for the proposed zones, but at least the bigger part of it,” she said. However, those governments do not enforce such conditions that only superficially cover the whole Natura 2000 network idea.

Item 3 was proposed by the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works and later approved by the Cabinet. Pictured is economist Genadi Kondarev of For Natura 2000 civil group holding a poster “Remove Item 3 from the Natura (2000) resolution”.

More than 60 people attended the November 22 demonstration, which was held under the motto “In our country everything is upside-down”. For that reason, the female activists were dressed up like men, and vice versa. The Natura 2000 defenders also had planned to hand each minister entering the Council of Ministers building for their regular Thursday meeting a copy of the Bulgarian constitution, in which they had underlined the three articles concerning Natura 2000 broken by the Government. They are all from Chapter 1 – Main Regulations: “Article 7. The state is responsible for damages caused by illegal acts or actions of its authorities and officials”; “Article 15. The Republic of Bulgaria is to ensure the protection and the perpetuity of the environment and the continuity and variety of its living species, as well as the reasonable use of the country’s natural resources”; and “Article 21. (1) The land is the main national richness, which benefits from special protection of the state and society. (2) Agricultural land is to be used only for agricultural purposes. Change of its zoning is allowed only in the case of proven need and according to conditions and order defined by law”.

As the police did not allow the activists to go near the Council of Ministers entrance and hand out the leaflets with the constitution to the ministers, the activists distributed them to journalists.

Recently, the Supreme Environmental Council within the Ministry of Environment and Water Affairs removed the Rila-Buffer section from Natura 2000 because the construction of the new ski resort Super Borovets started there not long ago. All protesters remained in front of the Council of Ministers building on Nezavisimost Square in Sofia for almost three hours, furthermore insisting that the whole of Rila Mountain be included in the Natura 2000 network, and the Black Sea zones Kaliakra and Emine be approved in full, as according to the EU Birds Directive. The November 22 presence in front of the Council of Ministers also marked the one-year anniversary of the first protest for Natura 2000 in Sofia.

At the 30th civil protest for the environmental network, which took place on November 29, the environmentalists came out with cotton in their ears, “just like the ministers are turning a deaf ear to the advice and wishes of their constituents, the due approval of the network’s coverage, our nature’s protection, the preventions of sanctions and stopping of all European funds for the violated zones – all of it being only of interest to a handful of large investors”. The environmentalists said this in a media statement.

Their protests are also supported by the coalition To Sustain the Nature in Bulgaria and civil group Citizens for Rila.

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