Green Protesters Seek Bulgarian President's Support

Bulgarian environmentalist will rally on Monday evening in front of the Bulgarian Presidency building in Sofia, organized by the non-governmental coalition "Let Nature Remain in Bulgaria".

Protesters want new President Rumen Radev to veto recent amendments to a bill on concessions, which they believe will harm the public interest and the environment.

The protest organizers said in on Facebook that the party that led the last government, the centre-right GERB party "made a present to the oligarchy" during its last week in power.

They want Radev to meet them to discuss these "problematic decisions of the parliamentary majority", which they say accumulated in the government's last days, just before Radev dissolved parliament and appointed a caretaker cabinet.

"Environmentalists consider a presidential veto [on the Concessions Act] a test of his claims about justice and the fight against corruption, which he made during his first speeches after assuming office," the activists said in a statement published on Friday.

Bulgarian MPs adopted the Concessions Act during one of the last government's final days in office, allowing parliament to remove the 35-year time limit granted to private entities to manage state or municipal property.

Private companies will now also be granted concessions to manage public beaches for up to 20 years.

Environmental experts say such generous concession periods are not in line with European legislation, and will violate people's freedom of movement.

They also oppose Article 50 of the amended bill, according to which, if a concession with a private contractor is cancelled owing to a fault of the concessioner, the state has to compensate the contractor for its realized investments and lost...