The entity that triggered the recent mass protests against shale gas exploration and extraction in Bulgaria is eager to spread anti-shale gas awareness to the neighbor country of Romania, it has been made clear.

On January 26, the Civic Initiative on Banning Shale Gas Exploration and Production in Bulgaria through Hydraulic Fracturing will stage a peaceful protest in front of the Romanian Embassy in Sofia.

"Our neighbors need to pay attention to these problems that affect our common water horizon," Borislav Sandov, a representative of the civic initiative, declared during a press conference on Tuesday.

Sandov pointed out that a potential poisoning of Romania's water would affect Bulgaria's water resources, too. The civic movement has prepared a open letter tackling the matter that will be sent to the Romanian Ambassador in Sofia, as well as Bulgarian Environment Minister Nona Karadzhova and Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov.

The civic initiative has also demanded amendments to Bulgaria's legislation that will guarantee the ruling centrist-right GERB's decision for a moratorium on the exploration and extraction of shale gas in Bulgaria.

Members of the civic initiative urged Bulgaria's Minister of Economy, Energy and Tourism to show sound evidence in support of his claims that powerful foreign financial interests were behind the mass protests in the country against the exploration of shale gas.