site.btaPresident Radev: Cabinet's Time for Analysis and Good Intentions Is Up, We Are Waiting for Results

President Rumen Radev Thursday said the government should ensure that politics and geopolitics do not kill the Bulgarian economy. What is needed are urgent, reliable, sustainable measures and solutions, not just good intentions, he told reporters in Plovdiv (Southern Bulgaria) after visiting lead and zinc production company KCM 2000.

The President said: "The time for analysis and good intentions is over. We have heard them. We are waiting for results." He added that all - the public and businesses - are following the government's moves for electricity and natural gas to depreciate and adequate compensation mechanisms to be put in place for individual and business consumers.

"The cabinet appointed new leaders in the energy sector, but where are the results? People do not see them, and time is running out, each day is precious, the risk of bankruptcies and loss of markets is increasing by the day, to say nothing of the problems of small and medium-sized enterprises," the head of State said. "What is needed are adequate measures, clear policies, urgent legislative revisions if we are to have a better functioning Independent Bulgarian Energy Exchange, predictability, real liquidity and real competition in Bulgaria and to work a day ahead," according to Radev.

It is well known that the European Parliament is engaged in a debate on classifying nuclear energy as "green," said Radev. It is high time Bulgaria made a decision on the Belene nuclear power plant project, in which billions of leva have been invested and these constant delays and waiting cannot go on any longer, he said. The President is adamant that Bulgaria has a future as a State with nuclear facilities. The Green Deal is the future and is a great project, but Bulgaria will keep investing in nuclear baseload capacities for decades and cannot afford the luxury to give up on that huge investment potential. "You know how hard it is for other countries to build new nuclear facilities right now. We have the most important thing - the human capital, the people who guarantee effectiveness and above all safety - and it would be a crime to give up on them," said Radev.

The President praised the management and the team of KCM 2000, adding that the company is not just an example of successful privatization - a rarity in Bulgaria during the transition period, but is also a global leader in terms of technological modernization through high environmental protection standards and progressive management methods. Such key enterprises must be supported. "Amid an acute energy crisis, we cannot leave to their own devices energy intensive companies, which form the backbone of Bulgaria's economy, without timely adequate measures, without a predictable pricing policy, because we rely on their competitiveness and they need to be able to compete on the international market in stiff competition with other companies in other countries with much more favourable conditions, said Radev.