Environmentalists expect the Consultative Council on National Security to take into account their proposal on forest swaps

The swaps are state aid because the Ordinance on the assessment of forests as per which the assessment of the real estates has been performed is not reflecting adequately the free market of land and forests, as well as the real estate demand and supply, remind the environmentalists.

They insist that an eventual official position of Bulgaria that the swaps are criminal offence and not state aid is dangerous for the country and should not be supported because it would give a totally wrong signal to society that a way is searched for with a view to legalizing the aid accorded to certain individuals and groups in order enable these latter to keep for themselves the real estates acquired at non-market prices without paying the price difference. “In Bulgaria there is an order for refunding unlawfully accorded state aid established in Article 14, paragraph 2 of the Law on State Aid” the environmentalists remind.

The “Let Nature Remain in Bulgaria” Coalition proposes to the government:

- As regards swapped forests for which the procedure for swaping the purpose of the property is not completed and the forests are not set under regulation with a view to being built-up – to ban for ever this possibility by an amendment to the National Law on Forests.

- As regards properties the purpose of which has already been swapped but these latter have not been built-up yet – to ban construction activities therein by amending to the Territorial Planning Law whereby admitting only the usage thereof for green areas in the populated places and village settlements.

- As regards properties the purpose of which has already been swapped and where construction has begun – to wait for the decision of the European Commission and to open a procedure for refunding the aid as per the order and procedure of the Law on State Aid.

These steps can be undertaken through fast amendments also to the laws on the conservation of agricultural lands and on the ownership and usage of arable lands.

Yesterday the “Let Nature Remain in Bulgaria” Coalition presented its position at a meeting with the management of the Executive Forestry Agency. The environmentalists insist to be included into the working groups searching for solution of the forest swaps problem.

Contacts:
- Stefan Avramov, Bulgarian Biodiversity Foundation, 088/6605410
- Konstantin Ivanov, WWF, tel. 02/9505040