Bulgaria Cabinet Declares Official Waste Emergency Situation

Politics » DOMESTIC | April 9, 2009, Thursday // 15:20
Bulgaria Cabinet Declares Official Waste Emergency Situation: Bulgaria Cabinet Declares Official Waste Emergency Situation The Bulgarian Cabinet followed its plan announced earlier in the day threatening to make the waste issue in Sofia a matter on national security. Photo by Sofia Photo Agency.

Bulgaria's Cabinet officially declared Thursday an emergency situation in Sofia over lack of adequate waste removal.

With the move the Cabinet followed its plan, announced earlier in the day, threatening to make the issue a matter on national security and citing a report prepared by the Health, Regional and Environmental Ministries. The report indicates that with its inability to solve the waste removal problem, the Sofia City Hall had triggered a serious threat for the public health and a growing ecological harm.

The news about the official declaration was announced for the media by Bulgaria's Prime Minister, Sergey Stanishev.

The Cabinet appointed the Governor of the Sofia Region, Todor Modev, as Chair of the National Waste Crisis Headquarters. The Crisis Headquarters will also include a representative of the City Hall. Work groups will be designated to deal with solving the issue.

The Headquarters will have the authority to mobilize equipment and manpower in the process of waste removal and will receive from the Sofia Police Directorate data about the available specialized equipment. The entire capacity will be used to collect the trash while owners of cleaning trucks will receive adequate pay.

The landfill in Suhodol, near Sofia, becomes a national priority site, but would maintain its current ownership, Stanishev further informed.

Following the first indication of the Cabinet's plans, the Mayor of Sofia, Boyko Borisov, surprisingly cut short his visit to Moscow and boarded an Aeroflot flight at 8 am Bulgarian time. Borisov stated that the announcement about the crisis was well planned to coincide with his trip abroad and hinted this was a premeditated move, just months ahead of the upcoming Parliamentary elections.

In the mean time, the Sofia City Hall's press center distributed a copy of a letter about the city's waste problems, sent by the Cabinet three years ago. In the letter, dated January 2006, the Cabinet officially rejects the request of the City Hall to establish a National Waste Crisis Headquarters by stating that such move would be a violation and would exceed the rights of the Ministries' Council.

In the last two days, the trash disposal issue triggered heavy rhetoric and yet another round in the war of words between the Mayor and Prime Minister, Sergey Stanishev.

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Photos of Sofia's Trash Crisis Please View HERE

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Tags: waste crisis, Boyko Borisov, sofia, government, Cabinet, Sofia Mayor, Sergey Stanishev, Prime Minister

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