The Green Party and the NGO circle "For the Nature in Bulgaria" – "Green Movement" – do not appear in any of the recent sociological surveys conducted in the final days of the election campaign. This is happening despite media appearances by the party’s co-chair, Toma Belev, and former Environment Minister Borislav Sandov, according to "Eco News."
Belev, Sandov, Daniela Bozhinova, Andrey Kovachev, and other environmentalists are frequent guests on many TV shows, especially on the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR). The fact that the "Green Movement," which was until recently part of the PP-DB Coalition, is absent from the polls indicates that their support is below 0.4%, meaning they have less than 10,000 votes.
The main reason for the low results of the "Green Movement" is the public's distrust of environmentalists. People disapprove of the Greens because they believe that, due to personal and corporate interests, they have hindered, delayed, and sabotaged many important public projects in the country. Examples include the construction of the 7th and 8th reactors at the Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant, the Hemus, Struma, and Black Sea highways, as well as energy and security projects, according to the publication.
The construction of the crucial tunnel under Shipka was delayed by several years because Toma Belev included it in a reserve, part of the Bulgarka Nature Park, where construction is prohibited. Similarly, the Petrohan Tunnel project has been delayed for over a decade because the route passes through Natura 2000 protected areas.
A clear example of how the Greens block infrastructure projects is the completion of the Struma Motorway through the Kresna Gorge. Due to the endless appeals by the Greens, the motorway has been delayed by almost 20 years. During this time, 74 people have died, and over 400 have been injured on a mere 16-kilometer stretch of the gorge.
The public also disapproves of the environmentalists because their activities are funded by external sponsors. These include organizations like the so-called World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), an NGO registered in the Swiss offshore zone of Morges. This organization has a branch in Bulgaria that has led dozens of lawsuits against important national projects, including one that once intervened against allowing animals to graze in the Balkan, Pirin, and Rila mountains.
According to the Institute for Market Economics (IME), the direct losses to the Bulgarian economy from the misuse of environmentalists' rights to appeal projects for just a 10 BGN fee amount to over 2.7 billion BGN. The IME's analysis includes six pages of examples of investments blocked by the Greens.
The article emphasizes that environmental protection should not be used for political and financial interests or to win public procurement contracts. Moreover, it should not become an obstacle to important projects, especially those related to the lives and health of Bulgarian citizens. The protection of nature should remain a voluntary cause, separate from political battles.
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