site.btaEx-President Purvanov: Bulgaria Needs New Energy Strategy

ESD 16:51:01 19-01-2019
DS1650ES.104
104 POLITICS - ABV PARTY - ENERGY FORUM

Ex-President Purvanov:
Bulgaria Needs New
Energy Strategy


Sofia, January 19 (BTA) - Founder of the ABV party and former president (2002-2012) Georgi Purvanov Saturday said that Bulgaria needs a new energy strategy that should be more long-term oriented, more comprehensive, based on real problems and aimed at solving them. Purvanov was speaking at a forum on energy, economy and security, organized by ABV in Sofia.

Among the participants were ABV Chairman Roumen Petkov, experts, representatives of employer organizations and trade unions, and diplomats.

According to Purvanov, the energy strategy should be elaborated with the participation of academics as part of a long working process, which should give an honest answer to many of the questions raised at Saturday's forum, including energy independence. "We were running from [natural gas] dependence on Russia but now we have double dependence: both on Russia and Turkey," he said, adding that dependence on Turkey is worse due to certain specifics.

Purvanov went on to say that a professional debate is needed, and it should focus more on the real problems and less on matters such as the Istanbul Convention. The energy sector should be the starting point, and some 2 to 3 billion leva should be allocated for it, similarly to how money has been allocated for the purchase of new fighter jets for the Air Force, he commented.

Petkov gave examples of decisions which, according to him, had a negative impact on Bulgaria's energy security, such as the sale of the Maritsa 1 and Maritsa 3 thermal power plants to US owners and the closure of Unit 3 and Unit 4 of the Kozloduy nuclear power plant [in 2007 as a precondition for Bulgaria's accession to the EU]. He recalled that back then Hungary and Finland upheld their interest and their nuclear power plant units are still operational. Think of the effect Unit 3 and Unit 4 would have had on energy pricing and how good this would have been for Bulgarian economy, he argued.

Petkov also mentioned the failed construction of a direct pipeline for supplying Europe with Russian gas through Bulgaria. In his words, instead of fighting for such direct supply, today Bulgaria is proud that it has some opportunity to pay Turkey a fee for the transmission of Russian gas. It is clear to everyone that this makes the route by 300 km longer and increases the price both for Bulgaria and all subsequent European countries along the route, Petkov said.

Prof. Yanko Yanev, CEO of the Nuclear Knowledge Management Institute in Vienna, presented a report on the prospects for a nuclear power plant in Belene. He mentioned several reasons why the Belene project is important: to save the 2 billion leva which have already been invested, to ensure and increase the security of electricity supply, to create a mega-engine of Bulgaria's industry, and to strengthen the country's position as a main electricity supplier in the Balkans.

LN/DS