site.btaParliament Mandates Energy Minister to Negotiate with Potential Investors for Building Belene Nuclear Plant

Sofia, June 7 (BTA) - The Bulgarian National Assembly on Thursday mandated the Energy Minister to resume actions for seeking opportunities to build a second nuclear power plant in the country, at Belene. The mandate implies that the plant is to be built in collaboration with a strategic investor on a market principle, without a government guarantee. The assets and liabilities for the project will be assumed by a project company.

The resolution, moved by the ruling coalition of GERB and the United Patriots, passed by a vote of 172 in favour, 14 against and 2 abstentions.

The resolution requires the Energy Minister to organize, coordinate and supervise negotiations with potential investors and equipment manufacturers, take action to devise a procedure for selecting a strategic investor, and propose ways to structure the project until October 31, 2018.

The National Assembly recommended to the Council of Ministers to reverse its March 29, 2012 decision against the Belene project.

The legislature also voted 74-40, with 81 abstentions, to defeat a draft resolution proposed by the opposition BSP For Bulgaria parliamentary group, which was aimed to lift the National Assembly moratorium on the Belene project. The moratorium is also dated March 29, 2012.

During Thursday's debate in the Assembly, the parliamentary forces, except for the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF), stated that they are in favour of future actions for building the Belene nuclear power plant. BSP For Bulgaria and GERB concurred that the worst-case scenario is to do nothing about the equipment already purchased for Belene. However, they argued about whether the March 2012 moratorium on the plant's construction should be lifted over the course of the day in order to attract investors.

The United Patriots and Volya, too, supported the construction of the plant. The MRF said they cannot back a decision with an unclear outcome.

Zhelyo Boichev (BSP For Bulgaria) warned that a provision in the resolution proposed by the incumbents (and eventually approved by the legislature) will actually "tie the hands" of the government, making it impossible to implement the project. Boichev said: "Any investor will analyze the situation and will find out that there is a parliamentary resolution which says the site is seismically active and which cancels the project. Not to reverse the parliamentary resolution of March 2012 is hypocrisy."

Alexander Nenkov (GERB) said the proposal of his group is cautious. "We should not act prematurely and we should not trumpet about restarting the project," Nenkov said. "We are not restarting anything. We are giving a mandate for studies in the next five months to probe investors' interest. If the future investors have serious intentions and see considerable economic and financial potential, they will be inclined to take a greater risk as is stipulated in our conditions for the negotiations."

"Of course, we have to revoke the National Assembly resolution [of 2012], but when is the right moment to do that? The right moment is after the Council of Ministers revokes its own decision, because we supported it," Valentin Nikolov (GERB) said. He added: "If Belene is meant to become a fact, it will happen at the right moment - when other electricity generating capacities are shut down."

Roumen Gechev (BSP For Bulgaria) said he agrees with GERB's economic arguments but finds that GERB's current logic is the opposite of what the party said back at the time when it wanted the project cancelled. Gechev said: "Why don't you admit to Bulgarian voters that the political situation has changed, and we lost billions because we served foreign interests? Why were you so slow in realizing that the Belene project is economically feasible?" According to Gechev, no nuclear plant in the world is operating at a loss.

Iskren Vesselinov expressed the United Patriots' firm support for the idea to build Belene on a market principle. He said this should be a project which brings benefits for Bulgaria.

Slavcho Atanassov (United Patriots) said Belene will be built when there is a political will for that. "After so many years, I finally see that the political forces share the view that the plant should be built," Atanassov said.

Vesselin Mareshki noted that his Volya party considers the building of Belene to be an absolute priority, as is the development of the national nuclear energy sector. Mareshki said: "It takes will. There is will in Parliament now, there is even a parliamentary group named 'Volya' [which is the Bulgarian word for 'will'], and perhaps this is a sign that the project must be completed."

Pavel Shopov (United Patriots) said the MRF is the only parliamentary force opposing the project and its reason for doing that is because a nuclear power plant is being built in Turkey. "The project is also opposed by the people standing in front of the National Assembly, who were fewer than the figures in the bas-relief on the Liberator King Monument, including the Liberator King himself and his horse, whom they hate only because they are Russian," Shopov said. He was referring to the monument in National Assembly Square, where there were protests against Belene.

"The MRF has a clear political identity and we take good care of Bulgaria's national interests," the MRF's Erdjan Ebatin said.

Ramadan Atalai (MRF) noted that Prime Minister Boyko Borissov was not present in the chamber and "therefore the current debate is a way to mislead the National Assembly." "There is no political will," Atalai said. He believes that nothing can happen without permission from the Russian company Atomstroyexport and Russian President Vladimir Putin because Belene "is a Russian project." "If we wanted to hold a serious debate about energy, we should have highlighted the need to build new energy capacities while closing old ones," Atalai said. "The decision you will make today will be your decision. There is no way we can support the obscure outcome of such a decision."