The decision immediately caused a political scandal and GERB declared the order null and void
The movement of cars along the First Avenue will now be prohibited, cars will only reach the parking lots in the northern part of the zone, the regional governor of Varna, Blagomir Kotsev, announced today, cited by BTA. According to him, the order will be officially published on Monday, but it is already in force as it is pre-executed. In the meantime, the police will place the necessary markings and signs, added Kotsev.
He clarified that the garbage collection along the alley and the refueling of the restaurants will be done as before. The regional governor also said that there is a dispute between the municipality and the MRRB as to whether Aleya 1 is a street or a coastal defense facility, but it is clear that it is state property, which gives him the right to dispose of and issue orders for this territory.
His position was also supported by the outgoing Minister of Innovation and Growth, Daniel Laurer. According to him, the regional governor has taken a very positive step for Varna, returning the Alley to pedestrians. It’s within the city’s mayor’s power to issue ordinances for many things, but he hasn’t done so in years, Laurer said.
Varna MPs from GERB-SDS expressed an opposite position to journalists. According to Pavel Hristov, the regional governor has been campaigning for years against the attempts of the Varna municipality to restrict the movement of cars in the Sea Garden. According to Hristov, the reason is that Blagomir Kotsev and his acquaintances and friends have business interests in the park.
According to the deputy lawyer Branimir Balachev, the regional governor’s order is null and void because he does not have the necessary powers and the regulation of traffic in the city is not within his competence. Whichever citizen appeals the order in the administrative court, it will immediately fall, the lawyer pointed out. According to him, issuing this order is not to solve any public interests, but an election advertisement for Blagomir Kotsev and “We continue the change”.
Krasen Kralev added that the order will create enormous problems for those who have to implement it and called on the people of Varna to appeal it in court so that the authorities see that this is not the way to work with advertising campaigns.
We are for the Alley to be strengthened, to have a bike lane, to create traffic regulation and to strictly monitor the speed of the cars, but not in this way, with a null order, indicated the deputies from GERB.
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