Experts from the MOEW, the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) met at the end of last week to outline the first steps for joint action. Details regarding inter-unit coordination for quick and effective response against environmental crimes were discussed. It was emphasized that it will be relied upon the expertise of MOEW employees given the specific knowledge required to act against this type of legal violations.

“Together with our team of experts, we will support the newly created unit in its future field work. We will include the individual specialized directorates, as well as locally experts from the regional environment and water Inspectorates, the national parks and the basin directorates,” said the director of the MOEW Directorate “National Service for Environmental Protection” Miroslav Kalugerov.

Together with specialists from the Executive Agency for Forestry and the Executive Agency for Fisheries and Aquaculture at the Ministry of Agriculture, the participants in the meeting discussed the possibilities of organizing trainings for employees of the Ministry of the Interior on the basic requirements of environmental legislation. Specific cases from the recent years were considered as examples in which rapid actions were required by the authorities of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the event of a report being submitted by the regional structures of the MOEW.

Already at the end of January, the Minister of Environment and Water Rositsa Karamfilova announced that a MOEW team was working on an agreement, which would create coordination and efficient interaction for the prevention of crimes against nature. In the Parliamentary Committee on the Environment and Water, Minister Karamfilova called for the creation of a working structure with the necessary capacity and commitments. At the meeting at the MOEW, the experts discussed details in particular about the coordination between the individual units in order to quickly and effectively react to violations of environmental legislation and the Criminal Code in the area of crimes against the environment.

In response to a parliamentary question, Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev announced that an agreement was being drafted by a MOEW working group to achieve coordination and efficient interaction in establishing, limiting and preventing violations and/or crimes against the environment, wildlife, and animals.

The future work of the sector with the specialized administration for the protection of environmental components will be carried out by approving the agreement on interaction between the MOEW, the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Agriculture, as well as by a mechanism for prevention, control, administrative and criminal activity and/or investigation of violations and /or crimes against the environment, wildlife and animals.