A spectacular nature haven in southwestern Bulgaria, home to twice as many butterfly species as the whole of the UK and protected by EU nature laws, is under threat from an EU-funded motorway from Sofia to Greece.
The Bulgarian Government in October 2017 decided it will carve an international highway through the 16 km long Kresna Gorge, supported by hundreds of millions of EU taxpayer funds, in defiance of an EU order to bypass the Gorge.
Evidence shows that Kresna’s wildlife is already alarmingly deteriorating as a result of the failure to uphold previous EU requirements, and would be devastated by Bulgaria’s plan to tarmac the Gorge.
The threat of irreversible biodiversity loss in Kresna Gorge – in breach of EU law – yet funded by EU funds – is real and imminent.
[ > Friends of the Earth Europe — December 2017 ]