This "National Agency for Control of Protected Areas" is not by chance registered under this name. An explanation must be sought here as to who and when insisted on this happening, because this is a misleading concept. This was commented on in the program "Crossroads" on Nova TV by the resigned Minister of Environment Manol Genov, quoted by novini.bg.
According to him, the agreement was signed 4 years ago, exactly on February 8.
„All ministers then tried to terminate it. There was a referral to the police and the prosecutor's office for possible illegal actions,” said Genov.
The agreement in question became known from a complaint by a non-governmental organization, after which all responsible directorates took the initiative and began inspections.
„The association is in complete violation of all the rules for the work of the Ministry of Environment and Water. I have not seen such agreements”, said Genov.
He also expressed doubt about the press release that appeared on the Internet and in the media, stating: „There is no such in our documents”.
Genov believes that former Minister Borislav Sandov has „got caught in his words”.
„Some time ago he said that he did not know these people, that they had gone to the ministry with a proposal to include this agreement. Yesterday, you said that there was information from them that they had received threats and he had been informed. Every normal person, if they receive any threat for anything, should contact the law enforcement agencies - police, prosecutor's office, etc. I don't know that this has happened and Mr. Sandov didn't say it. In addition, he had the audacity to say that it is unlikely that the termination of this agreement by the ministry led to this kind of events. These suggestions are extremely incorrect and do not correspond to the truth”, Genov added.
According to him, there are no financial commitments in the agreement.
„Checks have been made, not a single signal from them for violation of environmental legislation has been established. This morning, the Minister of Agriculture also told me that there is not a single signal from this association for illegal logging, for illegal logging”, Genov said. According to him, the agreement may simply have been signed to accept the association as a member of Europark. “Registration there was announced in August 2022 - 6 months after the agreement with the Ministry of Environment and Water was concluded”, said Genov.
The NGO in question has sponsored many projects across Europe.