Parliament In Bulgaria Saves Strandzha Natural Preserve
published on 20.7.2007
Bulgaria’s Parliament has approved the second reading of an amendment bill providing that all orders, ordinances and other administrative documents issued before June 30 2007 to declare protect areas are not subject to appeal in court.
The amendments to the Protected Areas Act say that all court cases of this kind that have not yet run their course will be automatically struck off the roll, Dnevnik daily reported.
The changes mean that the case of Strandzha National Park has been resolved. The protected area status of the park was overturned by the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) on June 29 2007 because of loopholes in a ministerial order dating from 1995.
However, Parliament rejected a proposal to restore the protected area status of Kamchiiski Pyasutsi at the Black Sea. Its status as a protected area was withdrawn because investors planned to build in the area.
Deputy Environment and Water Affairs Minister Chavdar Georgiev said that the amendments were necessary because Bulgaria lacked a procedure to restore the status of protected areas.
“There is no way that we create a time-machine and go back over the years to correct small loopholes in documents announcing protected areas,” Georgiev said.
He said that the amendments to the Protected Areas Act satisfied the demands of environmentalists.
Environmental organisations and citizens have held frequent street demonstrations against the SAC's June 29 decision.
More news from Bulgaria - http://www.sofiaecho.com/
