Bulgaria's parliament has passed on first reading changes to the law on ownership and use of farm land. 126 MPs voted in favour — from Progressive Bulgaria, Vazrazhdane, and one each from GERB-SDS and We Continue the Change — while 46 MPs from GERB-SDS, DPS, Democratic Bulgaria and PP abstained. No one voted against.
Georgi Georgiev of the Progressive Bulgaria group put forward the changes.
By 31 December 2027, land left over after property was returned to people will pass to municipal councils. Municipalities look after this land now. The aim is to close the restitution process for good. "Since the restoration procedure isn't finished, we're proposing to give it a bit more time so we can finally declare the land reform complete," Georgiev told MPs.
MPs also voted to stop people acquiring land by prescription in former farmyards of agricultural cooperatives. Until now, anyone who owned property on such land had to pay rent if they wanted to buy it, Georgiev said. The bill now gives owners a five-year window to acquire the land without owing anything for its use up to that point.
Parliament decided on one more thing. Farm land handed to research, research-production and teaching institutions counts as private state property. The agriculture minister will hold the ownership rights over it.
Under the bill, an independent valuer will now assess the value of rights over farm land from the state land fund, based on market prices. The rule requiring rental and lease tenders to run in two stages has also been dropped.
There are changes for pastures and meadows too. Free land not used for buildings, structures or farming can now be handed out for temporary use, for up to a year.
A cap is proposed to make it easier for small and medium farmers to use state land. No single farmer will be allowed to hold rental or lease contracts covering more than 10,000 decares in total, which they'll confirm themselves through a declaration.
MPs also voted to have the agriculture ministry work out a new, fairer way of calculating the average rent payment. Right now only the highest and lowest prices are used, which skews the result, Georgiev said.
During the debate, Lyuben Ivanov of Democratic Bulgaria said his party would abstain on first reading. He said the changes are sweeping and touch on many issues, but need fine-tuning. He said a serious discussion is needed between the two readings so the different sides can agree. His colleague Svilen Trifonov asked for a working group with all interested parties to be set up before the second vote.
The DPS group also said it would not back the bill. Shendoan Halit asked whether the proposed mechanisms would even work. Under the bill, state land could in some cases be sold without a tender at market prices, he said, but when rules like that are changed there need to be clear guidelines — otherwise municipal pastures could suffer too. DPS's biggest objection concerns municipal property: the bill says that if a municipal council fails to hand over land within the set deadline, the regional governor can step in and decide what happens to it instead. "Municipal property is not state property," Halit said firmly.
Yavor Gechev of PB, who chairs the agriculture committee, said the point of letting land be given out without a tender is to let people use it for longer and with more certainty.
Desislava Taneva of GERB-SDS said her party would also abstain on first reading. She praised the idea of finally closing the restitution procedure, but insisted a regional governor should not be able to decide what happens to municipal land.
Agriculture minister Plamen Abrovski said the changes fix problems that have gone unresolved for years. "My own view, and that of the ministry's staff, is that these proposals go a long way toward solving the problems," he said. He said debtors shouldn't hold back honest farmers just because the ministry can't collect what it's owed from them. "I don't think we should let municipalities do whatever they like with farm land," Abrovski added.