site.btaPresident Vetoes Revisions to State Property Act

May 27 (BTA) - President Rumen Radev vetoed the revisions
 to the State Property Act, his press service said on Monday.

On May 15, Parliament passed conclusively revisions to the State
 Property Act streamlining the procedure for expropriation of
private immovables for state needs and designating industrial
zones or technological parks with the requisite infrastructure
for the attraction of investments as "national works".

The President firmly supports the main purpose of the changes in
 the State Property Act, which aim to optimize and accelerate
the process of building significant national sites. He also
welcomes changes to promote investments in the industrial
sector. Nevertheless, the President believes that there is no
balance between public interest and property protected by the
Constitution, and that  there is a risk of delaying important
infrastructure projects instead of accelerating them.

According to Radev, even now the  advance implementation of
expropriation acts is applicable to national sites, such as
highways, ports, airports, gas pipelines, etc. The proposed
amendments extend the advance implementation to sites of
national importance defined as such by a law or an act of the
Council of Ministers.

Given the lack of criteria based on which the Council of
Ministers  will define sites of national importance, the scope
of the advance implementation may affect many private properties
 without guarantees that these are sites for common use in the
public interest, the President argues.

Radev also opposes the unequal treatment of small and large
owners of  farmlands and forest areas, who will be compensated
in a different way under the revisions. This change creates a
serious risk of delaying, rather than speeding up, the process
of building significant national sites, the President's
statement reads. IG/DT