Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB) will appeal before European court the Cabinet decision on Natura 2000 inclusion in Bulgaria.

The political council of the ruling tripartite coalition decided to include the minimal number of bird preservation areas possible, only 16 per cent of Bulgaria’s territory, mediapool.bg said.

The council decided to include the minimal number of bird habitat areas in Natura 2000, only 15 per cent of the country’s territories.

Ecologists said that the Cabinet would probably confirm the council’s decision.

According to BSPB Bulgaria violated the environmental protection clauses of its EU accession treaty.

The only explanation that ruling coalition gave for its decision was that EU member states included an average of 21.6 per cent of their territories in the environmental network, medaipool.bg said.

BSPB representative said that bio-diversity was specific in each country and had to be determined by scientific methods, instead of by arithmetic calculations.