If the interdepartmental committee of the Supreme Expert Environmental council votes yes on the two reports concerning the build-up of Strandja Nature Park, nothing will save its coastal line from destruction, a panel of environmentalists from To Sustain the Nature in Bulgaria coalition warned on a news conference July 21.

The council's meeting is scheduled for Tuesday July 22, and the voting concerns two reports – one of them presents the region's ecological evaluation and the second is an assessment of compliance with the European Union's Natura 2000 regulations.

If both reports are approved, this would mean a further step toward the approval of Tsarevo county development plan, which envisions almost 100 per cent build-up of Strandja's coastal line, the environmentalists said. Changes in the plan would most likely legalise and resume the construction of the infamous Golden Pearl holiday complex near Varvara village.

The activists also pointed out that this is the second, supposedly revised version of both reports, after the drafts were sent back in April to Tsarevo municipality to have them re-worked. The draft contained many factual errors and inconsistency in the presented evaluation, panelists said.

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 the National Assembly to vote into law that protected areas previously appointed by the government cannot be further disputed in court.