Bulgarian MPs Pass Veto on Controversial Forestry Act

Bulgarian MPs voted in agreement with the presidential veto on the controversial Forestry Act. Photo by BGNES

The Members of the Bulgarian Parliament passed Wednesday the veto of President Rosen Plevneliev on the Forestry Act.

This means that the entire text of the controversial legislation is returned to be reexamined and debated again from scratch.

Thousands of Bulgarian eco activists and other citizens opposing the Forestry Act staged week-long protest rallies in the area of the key intersection of Orlov Most (Eagles Bridge) in Sofia after the Parliament passed the amendments to the Act on June 13.

On the following Saturday the President issued a veto on all of the texts.

Counter protests of people backing the amendments were also held and are widely-believed to be staged by The "Nature for People and Regions" coalition funded by notorious businessman Tseko Minev.

On Wednesday, a little bit before the MPs were to vote on the veto, Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, send Agriculture Minister, Miroslav Naydenov, on an emergency trip to the Parliament to convey the message that the Forestry Act would not be debated until 100% consensus is reached on the disputed clauses.

"Naydenov, you are to go to the Parliament right now and declare once again – these MPs have nothing to do with this Act and this Act is not moving forward until there is 100% consensus with the environmentalists and the opposition. They must pass the veto and not attempt to do anything else until we are at these 100%. End of story. You go and you state this, in an unwavering, uncompromising manner – no compromise, none whatsoever, while those who say this is lobbyist legislation must step forward and say what exact text is lobbyist. Common Naydenov, go, hurry, hurry, before it is too late," Borisov is quoted saying.

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