A forgotten little airport – this in Bozhurishte near Sofia managed to unite all political forces in Bulgaria’s Parliament. On December 4, the present 164 MPs unanimously voted for the creation of a Commission of Inquiry to examine the swap deal of the small airport. The idea was proposed by GERB and for a chairman of the committee was elected socialist MP Peter Mutafchiev.
The story begins in the early 1990s when, after winding up of the former Organization for Defence Cooperation the purpose of airport Bozhurishte changed. By decision of the Council of Ministers in 2004 the property was transformed from a publicly to privately state owned, and in 2007 former Minister Bliznakov in the cabinet of the tripartite coalition and the regional governor of Sofia Emil Ivanov closed the deal with Industrial Park Sofia owned by Italian investors. So, the entrepreneur received the airport in an area of over 1000 decares and 16 buildings in exchange of 106 apartments in different Bulgarian cities. A year later Bozhurishte changed the status of the field, and it became a land plot with an approved development plan for an industrial area, including logistics centres, office buildings and warehouses. Promises of investors were that the construction zone will amount to 450 million levs.
An initiative committee, however, is of the opinion that the airport in Bozhurishte is a cultural monument as it is the oldest acting airport in the country, and in 2008 first Minister of Culture, Stefan Danailov, then in 2010 his successor Rashidov declared it a group urban and cultural heritage – a complex of national treasure that has value to the country’s history and is important for the European heritage. The investor, however, appeal the order of 2010 and so the little airport landed in court. On 13 April 2011 a three-judge panel of the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) dismissed the appeal of Industrial Park Sofia against the order of Minister Rashidov. Magistrates stated that it is issued in accordance with all requirements of the Cultural Heritage Act. But a few months later – on December 12, a five-member panel of the SAC repealed the decision of their colleagues and returned the case for retrial. A new decision of a new three-member panel of 24 April this year, cancel the order of Minister Rashidov as completely unlawful. The reason – considerable violations at the act of its issuance, including failure to inform stakeholders as well as an unclear territorial scope subject to the temporary protection verdict.
One of the main arguments of the lawyers of the Italian company is that the site does not contain neither historical nor architectural monuments.
The three-panel decision was confirmed last week by the five-member panel of the court and in practice the Italian concern Industrial Park Sofia won the case. However, a small loophole was left open – magistrates said that they cannot resolve the issue of the real cultural value of Historical airport complex Bozhurishte in its essence and sent the case to the Minister of Culture to rule with mandatory instructions on interpretation and application of the law, including notification of all stakeholders and accurately identify the borders of the object. For this reason, MPs remain in hope that the cultural heritage will still be saved.
The newly formed commission of inquiry will have to investigate the sale in the next two months to issue an opinion on the case.
The BANKER
