The Member of the European Parliament from the European Greens party David Hammerstein stated Sunday in the Bulgarian Black Sea city of Varna that he was shocked by Bulgaria's failure to counter the widespread environmental violations.

"It is an absurd to perform construction works in protected areas and to disturb the environmental balance", Hammerstein said adding that the European directives for protecting the biological diversity were constantly being violated in Bulgaria.

In the last few days the Spanish MEP has visited several protected areas affected by ongoing construction and other environmental issues such as Irakli, the Kamchia Natural Park, the Pomorie Lake, the Rila Mountain, and the zone around the Maritza Iztok ("Maritza East) Thermal Plants.

"The Bulgarian Black Sea coast cannot be a "Wild West" without any control whatsoever", Hammerstein declared.

He has posed a set of 25 questions to the European Commission regarding the violations of the NATURA 2000 environmental program in Bulgaria. The European Parliament is also expected to vote a petition in this respect.

The Greens party MEP said Bulgaria's failure to meet its obligations under NATURA 2000 may lead to the termination of EU funding.

During his visit to the city of Stara Zagora on Friday, Hammerstein said the European Commission was going to start massive inspections of the Maritza Iztok 2 and 3 thermal plants, and would come up with a decision whether they meet European requirements.

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