Bulgarian Forestry Official Sacked for Lobbyist Infringement

The notorious Vitosha ski company, which owns the Vitosha mountain lifts stopped operating them and closed the ski facilities for the entire last winter season.

The Head of the Changes in the Use of Forest Territories Department at the Bulgaria Executive Forestry Agency, Georgi Kotarev, has been fired.

bTV reports Wednesday that the dismissal happened after it has emerged that moraines and pastures in the Vitosha mountain near the capital Sofia have been converted into ski tracks in cadastral maps.

The changes occurred after the latest amendments to the contentious Forestry Act that stirred large-scale protests in the country in the summer.

The public pressure led to the Forestry Act's being re-adopted by the Parliament with the controversial amendments scrapped.

According to Bulgarian eco activists, the recent changes could trigger two infringement procedures against Bulgaria from the European Commission.

A meeting between Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, Agriculture Minister, Miroslav Naydenov, and environmentalists has been held Wednesday morning where the above changes have been one of the items on the agenda.

Naydenov has confirmed that Kotarev has been fired, adding he has ordered a probe in the case, and if the claims of the eco activists are proven to be true, the changes will be annulled.

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