The veto, imposed by President Rosen Plevneliev on the Forestry Act is a chance to achieve what is best for Bulgaria, Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, now says.

Bulgarian President, Rosen Plevneliev, imposed Saturday a veto on the entire text of the controversial Forestry Act, passed by the Parliament earlier during the week.

The controversial amendments, giving a green light to construction of ski tracks and lifts without changing the status of use of the land, triggered large-scale protests, shaking the capital Sofia since Wednesday evening.

"The philosophy behind these amendments was to give small mountain municipalities a chance for economic advancement by creating new jobs, better income for people, guaranteeing the boast of winter tourism and making the country a winter sports attraction," commented Borisov.

He added that the protest rallies happened after the Parliamentary vote, limiting the possibility of further changes in the legislation. The PM reminded that he has always adhered to the interests of Bulgarian people and to the preservation of the environment, giving as examples the recalls of the GMO and ACTA laws, the decisions to not build a second Nuclear Power Plant in the Danube town of Belene and to not participate in the construction of the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline, and the moratorium on exploration of shale gas.

"I conduct an active dialogue after every alert of civic and eco organizations and take their arguments into account. The same is happening with the amendments to the Forestry Act – we are having a dialogue that is leading to consensus, and I thank them. We established our common understanding of national and public interests; we adopted 3 out of 4 texts they are opposing, and are now discussing the fourth one," Borisov pointed out.

He appealed to Members of the Parliament to examine every single text of the controversial law, lead a detailed public discussion on it, and to vote while having in mind the opinions of the municipalities, the eco organizations and all other interested sides in the process.

The PM informed that at the very next meeting of the cabinet, he will order all Ministers to follow the rule of law and propose Bills only after in-depth public debates, and after being appraised on all opinions.

"As I respect the right of every Bulgarian to voice their ideas about me and the rule of the country, I have ordered the police to respect the demonstrators and steer away from using force. I also hope that citizens will act in a civilized manner and would not allow provocations by some organized crime groups, cocaine lords, oligarchs, and politicians, who are interested in instability in the country," Borisov stressed, concluding that democracy always involves freedom of speech and action, but also a responsibility to lead a dialogue.

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