Bulgaria prepares for battle over land sales to foreigners

Bulgaria prepares for battle over land sales to foreigners
By Dimitar Koychev in Sofia July 23, 2017

Bulgaria’s main political parties have agreed to postpone a vote on legislative amendments that will allow foreign citizens to purchase Bulgarian agricultural land without any restrictions. 

The European Commission (EC) has launched an infringement procedure against Bulgaria because of the current limitation. The Balkan country must achieve compliance by September. If this does not happen, the EC will refer the case to the Court of Justice of the EU.

In response, the country’s ministry of agriculture initiated amendments that will enable free access.

However, the decision to postpone the vote was supported by all the parties represented in the Bulgarian parliament, except the predominantly ethnic-Turk Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), Sega daily reported on July 20.

This is despite the fact that by failing to comply with the Commission’s request Bulgaria could receive a one-off fine of over BGN1.5mn (€767,000) plus €660 per each day of non-compliance, according to Sega.

Both the nationalist Ataka party, a member of the junior ruling United Patriots, and the biggest opposition player, the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), insisted on “freezing” the move. 

The BSP, the United Patriots, the ruling centre-right Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) and the centre-right Volya party have thus decided to approach the EC and ask to keep the restriction on agricultural land purchases by foreigners.

The country’s agricultural sector is characterised by a very high concentration of land ownership, and the question of sales of agricultural land to foreigners is a sensitive political issue. 

Tsvetan Tsvetanov, deputy chairman of GERB and leader of the party’s parliamentary group, warned that the parliament will reject the amendments prepared by the government if they are put to the vote. 

BSP leader Korneliya Ninova even said that a situation in which Bulgaria violates the European legislation and pays fines is preferable. Ninova commented that limitations also exist in other EU member states, such as Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Lithuania. 

The BSP leader raised the issue with President Rumen Radev at a meeting on July 20, recommending that the country take a united stance on the issue. 

"The president supported what I was doing. And it is through the MEPs, all the parliamentary parties, the government that we will limit the sale of Bulgarian agricultural land to foreigners,” Ninova said according to a party statement

 

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