The Supreme Expert Environmental council will review the environmental assessment of Tsarevo municipality’s master development plan on July 31, Focus news agency reported.

The council’s meeting scheduled for July 22 was postponed by Environment Minister Djevdet Chakurov, who returned the eco-report to be re-worked and asked for the statistics to be updated. At a news conference the day before, activists claimed that there were many inconsistencies in the then-presented assessment.

Environmentalists from To Sustain the Nature in Bulgaria coalition were saying that the number of protected species and habitats in the area in reality exceeded the numbers stated in the report.

If the council approves the supposedly revised assessment, there still might be a chance to save Strandja nature park coastal line from a 100 per cent build-up, which is exactly what the proposed master development plan envisions, according to activists.

While the council is deliberating, environmentalists staged a protest defending the nature park. Part of them presented a letter of protest to the office of the European Commission in Sofia, regarding Tsarevo’s master development plan. Some of the protesters called for the resignation of Chakurov and Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev.

Opposite the green activists, separated by the police, 25 to 30 Tsarevo residents and property owners organised  a counter-protest, assembling on Slaveikov square in Sofia, Focus reported. They are supported by the municipality, and say that the young people who normally gather to oppose the development plan are being manipulated and do not even know where Strandja nature park is located.

Tsarevo residents are convinced that the new plan will boost tourism in the area without harming the environment and biodiversity.

Strandja nature park spreads out on a territory of 1161 sq km, and a 1995 governmental regulation declared it a protected area.

Last year, a Supreme Administrative Court order, not without the consent of Tsarevo municipality, waived the park's status of a protected area, which practically meant that construction of pre-permitted building projects such as hotels and holiday villages was soon to begin.

The court decision inspired mass protests in favour of the park, which on the other side, prompted Parliament to vote into law that protected areas previously appointed by the government cannot be further disputed in court.