The first clash of the caretaker government with the public discontent is now a fact. A true storm emerged over the last few days at the environmental ministry due to the update of the Management Plan of the Pirin National Park covering the period untill 2023. In the late afternoon of March 1, right before the closure of the working day, caretaker Minister of Environment and Waters Irina Kostova signed a decision, sending the project for an update at the Superior Expert Environmental Council without the preliminary ecological assessment necessary. A day later she gave green light to the plan’s execution under an accelerated procedure. The legislative term for appealing the decision was three days as of its proclamation date, but those were holidays in Bulgaria, marking National Day.

The environmentalists reacted at once by organizing a protest. They insisted on the ecological assessment of the draft management plan for Pirin Mountain, according to the requirement of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee which protects the national park. Some of the political parties also voiced to the public their clear stances – Nova Republika’s Traicho Traikov and Radan Kanev called on the head of state to use his authority and cancel the decision. The Da, Balgaria movement also required its cancellation, alongside HR replacements at the ministry’s board.

The VMRO party of the United Patriots coalition supported the plan and its leader Krasimir Karakachanov stated that it provided tourist development opportunities. He accused the environmental organizations that their goal, financially supported from abroad was to create obstacles for the welfare of Bulgaria’s mountainous areas. PM Ognyan Gerdzhikov also criticized the environmentalists on their ‘rush’ protest and explained that the draft management plan was to be discussed by all parties involved. President Rumen Radev said the decision of Minister Irina Kostova was premature. The cancellation of the arguable decision less than an hour before the start of the protest came as a natural result of the talks of the president, premier, environmental minister and mostly due to the strong public pressure. The “Let Bulgarian Nature Remain” Movement was the organizer of the protest.

‘Our major goal is the preservation of the Pirin National Park,’ Ivan Radev of WWF Bulgaria comments. ‘You witness the long years of periodic protests due to the Pirin issue . Unfortunately many of the threats it faces have now become reality, while active civic actions prevent others. This won’t be the last stage of this fight. We still hope that we can make the state guarantee in the near future that Pirin will be preserved the way a national park should be preserved, as it is on the World Heritage List of UNESCO.’

The main criticism towards the management plan is that it will allow construction works on an area which is 12.5 times bigger than the current one, as well as logging across 60% of the park’s area. Who is interested in this plan?

‘Most likely these are the people who have been trying for years to finish the overconstruction of the Bansko skiing zone and to harm the nature with their activities. We have witnessed many governments trying to slip decisions in that direction. Our objections against the management plan and the ones of many scientists haven’t been taken into consideration, so it has to be reworked in its basis,’ Ivan Radev of WWF states.

English version: Zhivko Stanchev

Photos: Let Bulgarian Nature Remain and WWF-Bulgaria