Delays with the EIA approvals in Bulgaria

The process for completing an EIA is not optimal. The  Regional Inspectorates of Environment and Water (RIEW) sometimes fails to keep the deadlines. For example, an EIA for wind power plant can take up to two years because the monitoring of various animal populations is sometimes not initiated in a timely manner and has to be postponed until the next year. Another issue is that in order to complete the EIA report, the independent experts commissioned with the report drafting sometimes need to request additional information from the Ministry of Environment and Water, which in turn can lead to delays. Furthermore third parties (such as ecological organizations) may decide to appeal the approved EIA in court, which can negatively affect the timeline of the entire project.