"The caretaker government has a very big ambition to do a lot of things in a very short time", said the caretaker Minister of Environment and Water Yulian Popov on bTV. When you are in a caretaker government, you want to do in three months what you otherwise have to do in four years. There is an element of rushing and this is a battle, Popov said about the government's work.
Regarding the water shortage, the minister pointed out that water in Bulgaria is managed poorly and incompetently at the legislative, systemic and institutional level. After 1989, the centralized control system was not replaced with a new system, Popov pointed out. He noted that now many institutions are responsible for different things regarding the environment, and these responsibilities are not coordinated.
According to Popov, this year there will be a water regime in the cities where there was a regime last year. Many small settlements will remain on a heavy regime or will end up without water because they do not have the necessary infrastructure, the minister said. According to him, it is unacceptable in a European Union country, in a system with billions poured in, to have large settlements with water losses of 70-80 to 90%.
Asked about the work of the National Water Board, the acting minister said that "nothing will come out of this board".
Popov appealed for the depoliticization of the system, namely that the management of water-related companies should be separated from political structures such as ministries, for example.
Regarding coal-fired power plants, he said that emission trading in our country is considered an expense, but this is actually income. The revenue from emissions collected last year is 600 million euros, which, together with additional taxes from the energy system, make up the Energy System Security Fund, which is 1.3 billion euros. These funds can be spent specifically for energy poverty and supporting the industry, the acting minister pointed out.
Asked about the problems with waste, he said that the legislation in this area has not been updated. Many categories of waste are not included in the law. Much more serious activity and entrepreneurship on the part of municipalities is needed, Popov added. He emphasized that the Ministry of Environment and Water is in great debt in terms of moving forward several legal and other regulatory initiatives to introduce the so-called deposit system and encourage the introduction of the "polluter pays" principle, as well as to correct the illogically high product fees. Popov expressed hope that in the next month and a half the waste sector, which according to him is a very dark sector, will be illuminated. The reason is that many of the methods of forming fees are unclear and economically unjustified.
Asked why eco-fees in our country are much higher than those in many European countries, Popov said that these fees were raised by the recovery organizations last year. These are private organizations, and there is no direct and reliable control over them, which is omitted in Bulgarian legislation, he said. According to Popov, there are levers that can lead to changes such as the introduction of new categories of waste, which are required by the EC. Popov announced that the Ministry of Environment, Water and Water is preparing a package of legislative changes and appealed to future deputies to take it seriously, because these changes can make the system more accountable, more transparent and with greater competition.