Environment protections was going to play more important role than business interest in determining the terrains for inclusion in the European Natura 2000 network, Deputy Environment and Water Affairs Minister Chavdar Georgiev said.

The big question was if these two criteria were compatible, said Georgiev.

On January 25 Georgiev met municipal representatives from the Blagoevgrad region, Focus news agency reported. People from the region have been protesting against the introduction of the network, as it might push away investors and slow down regional development.

The best decision was going to take into consideration all interests, said Georgiev. In case investment plans could be harmful to nature, some restrictions were going to be imposed, said he.

Scientific criteria were used to determine the terrains to be included, said Georgiev. Some municipalities were to become nearly 100 per cent part of the network, said he.

Head of the temporary parliamentary environmental committee Georgi Bozhinov said that the Natura 2000 debate needed to intensify.

Issues that had to be answered included what type of protections was going to be implemented, in which areas and how it was going to work, said Bozhinov. A new approach to the issue was needed, said he.

Currently people were either extremely positive or extremely negative about Natura 2000, Bozhinov said. Debates were needed to change theses attitudes and to make them more moderate.