site.btaPM: Bulgaria Will Continue Implementing Zhelyazkov Cabinet Declaration on Water Releases to Greece in Medium Term

Prime Minister Rumen Radev Friday said that in the medium term, Bulgaria will continue to implement a declaration signed with Greece by the Rosen Zhelyazkov government in 2025 because it is a sound and rational document covering a five-year period. Radev replied to a question from Peter Petrov MP of Vazrazhdane about the government's overall policy on the long-term supply of guaranteed quantities of water to Greece.

Bulgaria and Greece signed a Joint Intergovernmental Political Declaration on the use of the Arda River waters in May 2025. 

Based on the declaration, Bulgaria will continue to conclude one-year agreements on the release of specified quantities of water, which it has the right to adjust in response to climate change, the Prime Minister said. The guiding principle will be to seek a balance between Bulgaria's sovereignty and domestic needs on the one hand, and preserving and further developing the country's strategic relations with Greece on the other, he added.

Radev said Bulgaria had fulfilled all of its obligations under a 1964 agreement, which was reparations-based in nature and has expired. The Prime Minister explained that Bulgaria had been obliged under that agreement, which expired in 2024, to supply 186 million cubic metres of water to Greece.

Bulgaria is under no obligation whatsoever to release water to Greece, either under EU directives or under international conventions, the Prime Minister stressed.

Regarding the bilateral agreement signed by the Zhelyazkov government in 2025, Radev said it concerns the accumulation of water volumes. It is a joint declaration rather than a binding document and contains no specific parameters. However, it provides for a one-year agreement between the National Electricity Company (NEK) and its Greek counterpart setting out the specific terms and financial amounts for this service.

Bulgaria has derived economic benefits from last year's one-year agreement, which provides for monthly invoicing and the release of 164 million cubic metres of water. During the low-water period between May and September, Bulgaria received EUR 2,132,000, Radev said. A one-year agreement based on the same principle is also in place this year, and similar financial proceeds are expected.

Radev said that in recent years the Environment and Water Ministry had never had a project for the construction of a dam on the Mesta River due to a lack of funding and vision on the Bulgarian side. Until 2031, Bulgaria will neither terminate the agreement with Greece concerning the Mesta River nor withdraw from the five-year joint declaration concerning the Arda River, he said. "We uphold the principle that agreements must be honoured; otherwise, we compromise ourselves as a civilized State governed by the rule of law," he added.

"When discussing relations with the Republic of North Macedonia, I have always insisted that, regardless of which government signed an agreement, it should be honoured by the next one as well. Based on this approach we should defend our national interest on the international stage," the Prime Minister said.

From now on, Bulgaria will seek framework agreements with Greece that contain clear parameters and take river flows into account.