Dear Mrs. Wallstrom,

Dear Mrs. Wallstrom,
We are writing to you with great concern regarding the decision of the Bulgarian Ministry of Environment and Water (MoEW) not to issue a new environmental permit for the Ljulin Motorway. In a letter to the Bulgarian environmental NGOs the Bulgarian MoEW declared that: "The Minister is not expected to issue a decision based on the revised EIA report for Ljulun Motorway (August 2003)"¹. The project for construction of Ljulin Motorway received a grant from EU ISPA program in 2002 under the conditions for conducting a new EIA public consultation and issuing a new environmental permit.²

1. The lack of Ministry's decision on the revised EIA procedure for Ljulin Motorway contradicts seriously the implementation of the Bulgarian Environmental Protection Act.

The new EIA procedure was initiated on June 26, 2003 by the Road Executive Agency implementing condition 8.3 from the ISPA FM and in accordance to the requirements of the new Bulgarian Environmental Protection Act. With a decision EIA-13549/02.09.2003 the Deputy Minister of Environment and Waters made assessment of the quality of the new EIA report and approved a further proceeding of the EIA procedure, including conduction of the public consultations.

The new procedure was accepted by citizens affected by the project as an opportunity to raise their concerns and questions regarding the Ljulin Motorway construction. Although there were numerous of weaknesses in the conducted scoping meetings, EIA report and public consultations³, the new procedure was duly attended by all stakeholders.

The Minister of Environment is responsible for issuing a new EIA decision three months after the public consultations, taking into account the results thereof⁴. The lack of a final Ministry's decision makes the EIA procedure incomplete and completely pointless.

2. The lack of Ministry's decision on the EIA procedure disrespects the conditions (8.3) in the FM. The necessity of new public consultation and new environmental permit is based on the violations of the EU and the Bulgarian EIA legislation during the previous EIA procedure for the project (according to art.8.3 from the FM for the Ljulin Motorway).⁵

The previous environmental permit N 74-18/2002, issued by the Minister of Environment and Waters in September 2002, violated both the Bulgarian and the EU EIA legislation due to the lack of public consultations on the approved EIA report. There were public consultations conducted in September 2001 but the EIA report discussed was completely different in scope and content by the one approved later by the Minister. However, the court's decision disrespected that strong violation of the EIA procedure, which was not an argument for accepting the violation of the legislation.

According to the EIA procedure principles, the public is eligible for expressing their opinion on the future programs and projects. The lack of a decision on the new EIA procedure will for the second time abuse public rights and undermine the importance of the ISPA Financial Memorandum.

Dear Mrs. Wallstrom,

We appeal to the EC to defend the strict fulfillment of the ISPA Financial Memorandum and ask the Minister to issue a new environmental permit according to the new Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). We urge the European Commission to withhold EU funds from projects, including Ljulin Motorway, which do not comply with the EC Best Practices Guidance on EIA and Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA).

We believe that you will undersand our position and will take the necessary steps for the correct implementation of the EC requirements and both the European and Bulgarian legislation.

Looking forward to your response,

Center for Environmental Information and Education, Petko Kovachev
Bulgarian Lepidopterological Society, Stoyan Beshkov
"Balkani" Wildlife Society, Andrey Kovachev
Environmental Association "Tetida", Rosen Aleksov
Environmental Association "Za Zemiata (For the Earth)", Anelia Stefanova

Mailing address: P.O. Box 975, Sofia 1000, Bulgaria
Telephone/Fax: +359 2 851 86 20

Attachments:

1. NGOs analyses of the quality of the EIA procedure conducted in the period July-October 2003 and the implementation of the conditions in the Financial Memorandum (FM) for the Ljulin Motorway project. (including Annexes I, II - protocols from the public hearings in the town of Bankja and the village of Malo Buchino)

2. Legal analyses of the decision of the Minister of Environment (№ 32-15/11.10.2002) for approval of the Ljulin Motorway construction and the decision of the Supreme Court of Cassation (№ 151/12.01.2004) on the appeal of the local people against the Minister's decision

3. Statement from representatives of citizens' initiative groups, non-governmental organizations, professional associations and independent experts on the state and perspectives for Ljulin Motorway