The ski lift to the Seven Rila Lakes in the Rila Mountain was completed in flagrant violation of Bulgarian and EU laws. This was announced Monday by the civic organization "Let Nature Remain in Bulgaria" (LNRB).

The organization also threatened that unless the illegal construction in Rila stopped, civil protests were to be staged all over the country in order to expose the government's irresponsibility towards Bulgaria's nature.

The ski lift connecting the Panichishte Resort to the Seven Rila Lakes was completed within hours, according to LNRB.

The civic organization claims that the lift construction violated the EU Directive for Birds and Habitats, the Environment and Waters Act, the State Property Act, the Municipal Property Act, the Concessions Act, the Territorial Organization Act, the Protected Territories Act, and the National Park "Rila" Governance Plan.

LNRB reported that Bulgaria's Minister of Environment Dzhevdet Chakurov declined to sign an order for the termination of the construction. It quotes the Minister's statement before parliament, that the construction could not be stopped because of" the public purpose and the advanced phase of the construction object, ... and of the practical impossibility to restore the previous condition".

The environmentalists call this position "madness", and call for the Minister's resignation because he was trying to justify environmental damage with economic benefits.

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