site.btaSupreme Court Approaches Constitutional Court about Biological Diversity Act Provision Restricting Protection of Rights of Ownership

Judges Roumyana Papazova, Nikolay
Gounchev and Desislava Stoeva of the Supreme Administrative
Court have approached the Constitutional Court for an opinion on
 Article 12 (7) of the Biological Diversity Act, according to
which orders by which the Minister of Environment and Water
designates special areas of conservation are not subject to
appeal. The Supreme Court submits that this provision restricts
the protection of the right to ownership.

The three judges' request was prompted by a case initiated on
challenges by individuals and companies against a December 12,
2017 order of then Environment and Water Minister Neno Dimov by
which he designated the Kaliakra Complex Special Area of
Conservation (on the Black Sea, Northeastern Bulgaria), banning
the issuing of new building permits and any construction within
the area.

Landowners in the area have taken strong exception to the
measure, as it frustrates their plans to exploit their
properties for tourism, farming, fisheries and wind power
generation. Ecologists, for their part, insisted that the people
 had been misled and that they will not lose their livelihood,
but the idea was to keep it and not to turn agricultural land
into wind farms and hotel grounds.

The EU Court of Justice has rendered judgment against Bulgaria
over the issue, targeting 101 wind turbines (86 within the
Kaliakra Complex and 15 outside it). RY/LG

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