Европейската комисия обяви, че стартира наказателна процедура срещу България, този път заради "уж" неостатъчна защита на няколко вида птици и рибата Главоч

За нова "зелена" репресия срещу България, този път по отношение на Национален парк Рила, алармираха от НГК "Природата за хората и регионите". От гражданската коалиция са изпратили писмо до Европейския парламент, Европейската комисия, както и до няколко български министерства. Прилагаме без редакторска намеса съобщението на гражданската коалиция към медиите, както и пълния текст на писмото към ЕК на английски.

Европейската комисия обяви, че стартира наказателна процедура срещу България по повод уж недостатъчна защита на птиците в Рила. От Брюксел искат „яката“- ниската част на планината, където жителите на околните села и градове имат поминък  свързан със земеделние, животновъдство и туризъм да бъде обявена за защитена зона, т.н. „Рила-буфер“. В момента на 72% от територията на Национален парк Рила е забранена всякаква дейност. Желанието на еврочиновниците е те да станат 100%. Конкретния повод е недостатъчната защита според тях на трипръстия кълвач, лещарката и два вида кукумявки. За сведение на европейските бюрократи, откакто през 1992г. Рила бе обявена за национален парк и в последствие включването и в  НАТУРА 2000, от картата на района са изчезнали 40 населени места с 27 000 души население. Обезлюдяването и циганизацията на селата около Рила е неуспорим факт. Обедняването и липсата на бъдеще прогонва хората от тази част на страната.

Тази санкция е уредена освен от доноси на зелени неправителствени организации и от представителката на България в Главна дирекция „Околна среда“ Силвия Бърова и съпругът й Борис Бъров, който е в програма LIFE+. Това е втората наказателна процедура, която е в следствие от „тяхната работа“. Първата е свързана отново с птиците беше за Калиакра. Там се твърдеше, че пернатите се блъскали в перките на ветрогенераторите и загивали. В продължение на години се показваше една и съща снимка, която в последствие се оказа фалшификат на подхвърлена мъртва птица, но процедурата бе задействана. Интереса на фамилия Бърови към птиците произлиза от факта, че и двамата преди да отидат в Брюксел са работили дълги години като директори в неправителствената организация- Българско Дружество за Защита на Птиците. В пресата се изнесоха много факти за спечелени от тази организация многобройни поръчки, директно от фондовете на Европейския съюз. От 17 поръчки на обща стойност около 40 милиона лева, 15 са отишли при БДЗП. По повод тази съмнитекна практика на 11 юли с писмо до петима еврокомисари и до други инстанции, ние от „Природата за хората и регионите“ поискахме пълна ревизия на дейността на Бърови и проверка на всички поръчки по директното финансиране и връзките им с БДЗП.

Образуването на тази измислена, без достоверни научни факти, наказателна процедура срещу България е поредното доказателсвтво, че за европейските корумпирани чиновници няколко вида птици и рибата Главоч са много по-ценни от живота и бъдещето на хората в региона. Ние ще предприемем всички необходими мерки, като ще поискаме съдействието на научната общност в България и Европа за прекратяване на тази абсурдна ситуация.

Текст на официалното писмо на английски:
TO:
MR. GIOVANNI  LA VIA,
CHAIR,
Committee on the Environment,
Public Health and Food SafetY,
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

MRS. ISKRA MIHAYLOVA,
CHAIR,
COMMITTEE ON REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT,
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

MR.MICHAEL CRAMER
CHAIR,
COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORT AND TOURISM,
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

MR. KARMENU VELLA,
EUROPEAN COMMISSIONER,
ENVIRONMENT, MARITIME AFFAIRS AND FISHERIES

mrs. Corina Creţu,
EUROPEAN COMMISSIONER,
REGIONAL POLICY

TO:
MR. WALTER DEFFAA
DIRECTOR GENERAL
DG REGIONAL POLICY
EUROPEAN COMMISSION

TO:
MR. DANIEL CALLEJA
DIRECTOR GENERAL
DG ENVIRONMENT
EUROPEAN COMMISSION

TO
MR. TOMISLAV DONCHEV
DEPUTY - PRIME MINISTER IN EUROPEAN FUNDS AND ECONOMIC POLICY

TO
MRS. IVELINA VASSILEVA
MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENT AND WATER
TO
MRS. LILYANA PAVLOVA
MINISTER OF REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT
AND PUBLIC WORKS

Subject: the problems with ecological legislation in Bulgaria

Dear Sir and Madam,

The results of the British referendum unleashed again a wave of Euroscepticism in Bulgaria. Part of the people believe that low incomes, the bad living standard and the poverty are caused by the European Union. Society and media have constantly stated the idea that even though, the EU brings us many economic, cultural and geographical possibilities, it also allows the existence of ecological racketeering in Bulgaria. Projects in the sphere of transport, tourism, primary industry that could help the economy of our country are being stopped, due to our national legislation which is unnecessarily ecological and also due to the restrictions of NATURA 2000. Bulgaria has the highest percent of its territory included in NATURA 2000 in the EU, almost 35%. Examples of this are the construction of Struma highway in the part of the Kresna pass, the creation of winter infrastructure in Pirin, Rila, Rodopi, Vitosha and Stara Planina regions, research and excavation of oils, problems with agriculture and many more. The local authorities believe that there is high level corruption not only in the Bulgarian government, but also in the European Union, which gives away millions of euro to insignificant ecological projects, when these money is only used to worsen the economy of the country with the lowest income in the EU, by racketeering and blocking projects. Many examples of this can be seen in the Bulgarian media.

The disbelief in ecological NGOs in Bulgaria, is mostly due to publications in Bulgaria’s major newspapers (24 chasa, Trud, Standart). They published information supported by documents, about the affairs of environmentally friendly NGOs. An example for this is the case with the red breasted goose. Ecological organizations have received more than 25 million euro from different programs, in order to protect the geese in Bulgaria. In the same time the Bulgarian Ministry of Agriculture and Food has paid the same amount in order to compensate the losses that the agriculture has suffered due to this same bird. Another case that seems somehow out of place in Bulgaria, is the cultivation of vultures that costs 120 000 per bird, in the same time most Bulgarians live with a yearly income of below 5 000 euro, the minimum wage is 210 euro and most pensions are worth around 100euro a month.  One of the most severe cases is the wetlands of Kalimok-Brashlen for which the Ministry of Environment and Water and ecological NGOs have spent more than 33million dollars and now everything is buried in destruction. After the publications concerning this case, the Bulgarian Prosecution considered the issue on its own initiative and now an investigation is taking place. All that money spent to protect vultures or geese is somehow out of place, when we are talking about the member of the European Union with the lowest income in the union.

Throughout recent years, the green populist party “Greens” (member of the European Greens) has gained a disproportionate influence over public policy in spite of their extremely low election results averaging 0.5%. This disproportionate influence has been achieved using substantial EU finances from the environmental EU programs and funds and has been leveraged to sabotage massive public and private investments.. Despite the significant opportunities and investment interests these regions remain mostly poor areas with high unemployment and low income levels. This causes massive migration flows towards the Bulgarian capital of Sofia and the Western EU countries. There are currently dozens of frozen projects whose total value exceeds EUR 2 billion, who have the potential to reverse the above-mentioned economic and social trends. The Green’s influence over part of the media and public policy that has been leveraged to stop these projects emerges from the support they receive from EU lobbyists and the EU finances they manage to secure and receive.

We are writing to request your assistance in stopping schemes for embezzling EU funds under the guise of environmental protection in Bulgaria. The fraudulent act is orchestrated by a group of “green” non-governmental organizations that calls itself coalition “For the Nature” and includes the Bulgarian branch of WWF. To this date, the group has captured more than EUR 100 million available funds through Operational Programme Environment and LIFE. Despite the fact that the latter is coordinated in Brussels, it had been entirely usurped by the aforementioned people.

These substantial finances are not effectively used for the benefit of Bulgaria’s society and environment, but are instead effectively privatized by the green non-governmental organizations and the “Greens” political party. With the money, they have managed to project substantial undue influence over both Bulgarian and European institutions. Once embezzled, the finances are then redirected towards lobbyism and political activities.

Some of the suspicious projects that have received more than generous EU financing and have been awarded to these organizations are:

Save the raptors: 2 million EUR for building breeding habitats and artificial nests for eagles

Life for the Bourgas lake: 1.7 million EUR for saving pelicans that ultimately died

Safe ground redbreasts: 2.6 million EUR for counting redbreast geese and writing a plan about how to save them. The plan is 60 pages long and requires another 25 million EUR to actually save the geese. Yet, it remains rather unknown what they need saving from.

Return of the Neophron: 2.6 million EUR for breeding and mating vultures.

These are just part of the countless embezzlement schemes.

These four projects had been awarded to the Bulgarian society for protection of birds (BSPB) and financed through the LIFE program – entirely EU funded and managed in Brussels. In fact, since the LIFE funds became available for Bulgaria, the BSPB has captured more than half of the projects awarded and together with its partner NGOs from the green coalition have won all but 2 small projects financed through LIFE.

We have substantiated doubts that this could not have been achieved without the support of the LIFE policy coordinator for Bulgaria. Since 2008, this position has been occupied by Mrs. Sylvia Barova – a former manager in the Bulgarian society for protection of birds (BSPB). In fact, her husband had been the top executive in the organization.

In the beginning of 2008 BSPB secured EUR 2 million from LIFE to count eagles and falcons in Bulgaria. After receiving the money, Mrs. Barova and her husband left for Brussels. With the support of the Bulgarian Ministry of Environment and Waters, Mrs. Barova was appointed policy coordinator for Bulgaria in the Directorate General for the Environment. As we mentioned above, once she assumed office, more than 90% of all LIFE projects in Bulgaria are awarded to her former NGO and a few other NGOs from the “For the Nature” coalition. The total amount of funds to this date exceeds EUR 20 million.

Together with the finances captured from another environmental programs, these funds are not only embezzled, but syphoned into purely political undertakings of the Bulgarian “Greens” party (whose politicians are leading these NGOs) and heavy lobbyism that may have mutated into racketeering. We feel confident enough to say this as we have been experiencing this blatant behavior for more than 15. However, investments worth more than EUR 2 billion had already been stopped by these green NGOs. The social impact has been devastating and entire Bulgarian regions had been depopulated. In fact, this “green” racketeering is one of the reasons for so many Bulgarians to leave their economically ruined regions and migrate to developed countries such as the EU.

The above mentioned facts and problems are very grave and for this reason, we ask and insist that you exercise your authority and revise Bulgaria’s representatives of Operational Programme Environment and LIFE. Also, tighter control is needed in order to limit dubious European grants and projects being embezzled. The mentioned cases, not only have a negative impact on a country that is in desperate need of investment, but also create Euroscepticism. While Europe is giving millions of euro to dubious ecological NGOs, most of Bulgaria’s population is living on the verge of poverty. With no room for our industries to develop, due to various and multiple ecological bans and racketeering, our economy is unable to function normally.

Dear Sir and Madam, it is a pity that Bulgaria is known as the least developed country in the EU. Even though millions of euro were spent, our air is still polluted, the unregulated landfills are countless, there are populated areas with no access to clean water and in a big part of the country canalization is a luxury. The ecological legislature in our country creates many obstacles in the realization of any investment plans. The change and lessening of the ecological legislature is necessary. The other cause that is of vital necessity is limiting the embezzlement of European money. Bulgaria has seen no benefit from the millions euro that go to ecological NGOs, furthermore it only empowers the “green octopus” (the popular name for the green NGOs and the green party). We call upon you to exercise you authority and take the means necessary to stop this impure and even criminal practices. We as a civil union ask for firm and fast measures and also insist on a full revision of Operational Program Environment in Bulgaria.
12.07.2016                                                                    
                                       Most respectfully,
                                       Filip Tsanov representative of:

                                                                          
National Civil Coalition “Nature for the People”
National Civil Coalition “Nature for the People and the regions”
National Coalition “To keep people in Bulgaria”
Balkan center for eco engineering
Foundation NATURA 21
Ecological association Protekt Proekt
philiptsanov@yahoo.com