The habitats committee of the European Commission (EC) has approved all the habitat zones that figure on Bulgaria's Natura 2000 list, as proposed by the Government, the Environment Ministry wrote on its website on October 28. Natura 2000 is an ecological network of protected areas in the territory of the European Union.

In reality, this means that field specialists from Brussels have agreed that the Rila Mountain buffer zone be excluded from the ecological safety net. According to Bulgarian environmentalists, this decision could prove harmful to preserving the native brown bear population.

Expectations are that in December, the list with all approved zones will pass in European Parliament, and, at the beginning of 2009, will be officially published. In the following two years, the Environment Minister is obliged to issue an ordinance with which to announced the location of each zone.

The Government has approved a total of 228 protected sites, excluding areas such as the Rila buffer zone, and parts of Kaliakra and Emine at the northern Black Sea coast. The Environment Ministry has explained that, scientifically, the Rila buffer was not of great significance as a natural habitat.

Environmentalists still hope that by September 2009 more habitats, including the Rila buffer, could find a place on the Natura 2000 list. The EC has requested additional scientific data in regards to the zone, which has not yet been presented and examined.

Bulgaria has some unsolved issues with stating which zones related to birds preservation and protection should enter Natura 2000. According to activists, there are a total of 114 such zones, while the Environment Minister has recognised only 37.

Dnevnik daily said that the EC had initiated a punitive procedure against Bulgaria after the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds signalled that the state neglected all protected areas.

In some Natura 2000 protected areas, there has been ongoing construction of holiday villages and other projects, which, in itself, is sufficient reason to provoke another punitive procedure against Bulgaria, activists said.

The European Parliament petitions committee will be in session on October 30 in Sofia, when all complaints against nature-destruction filed by ordinary citizens will be taken into consideration.