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State May Be Allowed To Confiscate Private Property For Nonpublic Use
Legislative changes, drafted by the Bulgarian government, may enable the state to apply summary procedures for seizing private properties if they impede private infrastructure ventures, as well aspublic infrastructural projects, Dnevnik daily wrote.
Private power stations, water supply networks or waste sites will be categorised by the government as an infrastructure facility of national significance that may warrant the seizure of a particular private property and turning it over to a private developer.
Legal experts immediately described the proposal as controversial and unconstitutional.
The proposed amendments to the State Property Act have been posted on the government website and are being co-ordinated with relevant state departments. Currently, the state has the authority to expropriate private assets only if they are required for public use.
Explaining the proposed legislative changes, the government said they are needed because, regardless of the type of ownership, national infrastructure facilities are all equally important for the public - they are meant to address the needs of the entire society or particular society groups.
In this list the government includes facilities such as motorways, first grade and municipal roads, railway infrastructure, ports, airports, water, electric and gas grids, wastewater treatment and waste management facilities.
The Bulgarian Constitution forbids the confiscation of private property unless it is needed for state or municipal uses and only with just compensation.
Legal experts claim when the state seizes private property, only to sign it over to a private developer, it is acting as an intermediary in a deal involving two private parties where one of them is disadvantaged.
They also noted that proposed amendments fail to guarantee that the new owners of the infrastructure facility may not re-purpose at some point in the future. For example, they could decide to build a hotel on the site of a water treatment plant, Dnevnik daily noted.