LM Legal Services Blog

A Bulgarian ecological organization informed the European Commission about scandalous swaps of property as result of which the energy boss Christo Kovachky has acquired s formerly state owned forests in Rila Mountain at prices 24 times lower than the market prices. These forests have been included in the regulation plan of the new ski resort Iskrovete-Govedartsy-Maliovitsa. The administraste of the State Agency for the Forests have accepted that the Rila forests should sell to Kovachky for 5 levs (2.50 Euros) per square metre, while at the same time the market price is 120 levs (60 Euros) per square metre. According to the ecologists, the agency has not protected the interest of the state and has not adhered to several EU directives by not making the necessary evaluation of the plans for the new ski resort and its suitability. The new ski slopes and lifts will cut deeply in the National Park Rila. Brussels has launched sanctions procedure against Bulgaria for illegal construction in the national park.

The Bulgarian banks have increased the mortgage interests in July by half percent. Some banks have increased their commissions. Out of 15 commercial banks, now not less than 9 banks have worse offers for their clients, an all time record. Among them are the largest commercial banks in the country – Raiffeisenbank, Postbank, DSK Bank and UniCredit Bulbank.

According to the Greek press, Bulgarians, Russians and Ukrainians buy  property on Halkidiki in Northern Greece in great numbers, despite the slump of the property market in Greece. The construction has not slowed down. Currently there are 20 000 new apartments on the market. The prices of new properties on Halkidiki are similar to those in expensive parts of Salonika. Houses by the sea sell for 2500-3000 Euros per square metre, while those inside the peninsula sell between 750 and 1000 Euros.

The deputy minister of health Dr. Matey Mateev has handed his resignation in protest against “the campaign against leading Bulgarian neurologists in connection with the used by them methods for treatment with stem cells.”

Last Friday, the Ministry of Health announced that due to illegal transplantations of stem cells to patients suffering from complicated genetic and neurological disorders at St Ivan Rilsky Hostpital, the director of the hospital Assistant Professor Roumen Stoilov has been sacked.

“The problem with the stem cells is scientific, not administrative and it has to be resolved by the academics,” declared Dr. Mateev.

The inflation for July will show an increase of 1% in comparison to June, when there was a July of -0,2 %. The minister of the economy Dimitrov explained this with the increase of the price of energy. The foreign investment for the first six months of the year has reached 2.078 billion Euros which is the similar to the same period last year.

According to the Naitonal Statistics Institute, the expenses of the Bulgarian households have increased by 7,1%. At the same time the investments in the basic capital have increased by 21%.