Bulgaria

Same old, same old - No signs yet that Bulgaria is getting real about how to spend its future EU budget money

With less than three months to go until the 2014-2020 EU budgetary period gets underway, a Bulgarian Partnership Agreement is being discussed with the European Commission – but the less said about it the better. In the spirit, though, of a country where a shake of the head means ‘Yes’, we have chosen to spill the beans at some length on where familiar mistakes are being taken, and where they may lead.

Tags: Bulgaria EU funds gas green spending legislative process OP partnership principle programming waste transport EU

Institution: EU Funds

Theme: Energy & climate, Transport, Resource efficiency

Kresna Gorge / Struma motorway, Bulgaria

The Struma motorway, part of the Trans European Corridor N4 Sofia-Athens is planned to go directly through the Kresna gorge, a NATURA 2000 site, and the town of Kresna - even though a comprehensive agreement stipulated in 2007 that this route would be avoided.

Institution: EU Funds

Theme: Transport

Anti-cyanide protestors in Sofia boosted by European parliament support

January 20, 2009

Residents of the Bulgarian village of Poibrene have today taken their long-standing concerns about the potential introduction of controversial cyanide technology at the Chelopech gold mine – led by Canadian firm Dundee Precious Metals – directly to the Bulgarian ministries of environment and health and to the Sofia office of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the publicly-owned development bank that is a potential funder of a USD 150 million project that could see cyanide leaching introduced at the gold mine without inclusive public consultation.

Institution: EBRD

Theme: Other harmful projects, Mining, Balkans

Tags: Bulgaria, cyanide, European Parliament, mining, Balkans, EU