Bulgarian Farmers are Preparing to Protest over Changes in Farmland Law

Farmers prepare a protest against the new amendments to the Agricultural Land Act, the BNR announced. Although the changes aim to break the frauds with land contracts, farmers think they are unreasonable.

The main frustration of farmers is that all land leases should be re-signed by June 22. In the words of lawyer Detelina Simeonova, there are farmers who have over 1000 contracts.

"It is physically impossible - all of these people to appear before a notary, here are violated basic principles of law," Simeonova says. According to her, the changes are unreasonable and are used only by the notary lobby. "They also provide for an increase in the fee, as not only the signature of the parties, but also the content of the document, which increases the fee under the contract, that will be validated," she said.