site.btaParliament Hosts SEECP Committee Meeting on Energy

Parliament Hosts SEECP Committee Meeting on Energy

Sofia, March 21 (BTA) - The Bulgarian Parliament Saturday hosted
 the first meeting of the General Committee on Economy,
Infrastructure and Energy of the Parliamentary Assembly of the
South-East European Cooperation Process (SEECP). Delegations of
nine parliaments discussed a Committee report on improving
energy efficiency in Southeastern Europe and will adopt a
resolution.

The Parliamentary Assembly's three committees prioritize active
sectoral regional cooperation in the SEECP and coordination
among the parliaments for aligning the legislation of the
individual countries to the EU directives and regulations, the
participants said.

The meeting was chaired by Diana Yordanova, member of the
permanent delegation of the Bulgarian Parliament to the SEECP
Parliamentary Assembly, who said: "The European Commission has
sent quite a few signals that our Committee is a leading
economic format in the region."

The participants heard addresses from Parliament Chairperson
Tsetska Tsacheva and Jerzy Buzek, Chair of the European
Parliament's Committee on Industry, Research and Energy. The
purpose of the Assembly is to lobby for the region's shared
interests at European level, Tsacheva said in her letter.

Addressing the participants, Energy Minister Temenouzhka Petkova
 said the interparliamentary organization has an excellent
capacity for sectoral cooperation in areas of shared interest in
 general and energy in particular. Petkova said the European
Commission would provide financing for the construction of a gas
 interconnector between Bulgaria and Greece, which will cost an
estimated 220 million euro. 

The other Bulgarian participants were Vladimir Urutchev MEP and
Delyan Dobrev, Chair of the Bulgarian Parliament's Energy
Committee.