Archeologists should stop blackmailing the State and hurdle highway construction, ordered Bulgaria's Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov.

"One last conversation and then – immediate changes if needed," Borisov had commented on the expropriation of private property over the construction of the Hemus highway between the capital Sofia and the Black Sea city of Varna.

The expropriation was included in the agenda of the Wednesday meeting of the Council of Ministers, and the statement is part of the meeting's shorthand notes.

Regional Minister, Lilyana Pavlova, had reported on the procedure, saying the Ministry has problems with the forced expropriation of properties in the vicinity of the city of Shumen where the local Archeology Museum was "sabotaging" Hemus' construction, along with museums in Pernik and Kyustendil interfering with the construction of the "Struma" highway in southwestern Bulgaria.

"The blackmail is going on," Pavlova had said.

In response, Borisov had ordered his Deputy and Finance Minister, Simeon Djankov, to personally make sure that the racket of the State comes to end and construction continues without hurdles.

"This is very strange, because in 2011 we gave for archeology times more money compared to last year. And in 2012, we are doubling their funding. They have enough money, and I don't understand why such things pop up," Djankov had said.

Pavlova had added that archeologists have received BGN 5 M just for 2011 for any kind of facilities and excavations, but they never stopped asking for more.

"We should stop Struma construction over their digs as they were crucially important," said the Minister.

"Let's don't comment on it; I am fully aware of their tricks," Borisov had stressed.

Culture Minister, Vezhdi Rashidov, had also joined the debate by asking Djankov to think of ways to transfer the Ethnographic Museum and Archeology to his institution in order to achieve better coordination.

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