Page 36 - bne_Magazine_July_2018

36 I Southeast Europe bne July 2018
Belene project creates unholy alliance in Bulgaria
Minister Boyko Borissov, leader of
the ruling GERB party, which gave
the signal that they want to warm up relations with Moscow and gain back President Vladimir Putin’s benevolence. Moreover, the lack of information prior to Borissov’s departure for Moscow gave rise to speculation on the reasons for his sudden visit and its connection to the restart of the Belene project.
Back to the drawing board
Plans to build the Belene power plant were scrapped in 2012, but Sofia was forced to reconsider after Bulgaria was ordered to reimburse over €600mn to Russia’s Atomstroyexport (a unit of Rosatom), which had won the contract to build the power plant and already started work. Since then, the project to build the country’s second nuclear power plant has been in limbo.
In mid-May, however, the government announced that it will ask parliament to lift the ban on Belene’s construction. Two weeks later, the BSP asked the parliament to do the same thing,
and a debate is scheduled for June 6. Such coordinated actions between the opposition and ruling party were unprecedented for Bulgaria.
But while the main parties are united, there has been strong criticism from outside the parliament. Democratic Bulgaria, a newly established coalition of opposition parties that is not represented in the current parliament, said in a statement that the revival
of Belene project is a “deception of the right-centrist voters and a drastic
Denitsa Koseva in So a
The Bulgarian parliament is due to vote on plans to restart the Belene nuclear power station project
on June 6, and with the main parties unified behind it the controversial project is almost certain to get the green light from MPs.
While nearly every energy expert and economist in the country says that the construction of the Belene nuclear power plant is unnecessary, expensive and even unsafe, Bulgaria’s ruling coalition and its main opponent in parliament, the Socialist Party (BSP), have united in their determination to restart the project. There are virtually no dissenting voices in parliament, as even the smaller parties either formally support it or will not oppose it.
The unlikely alliance between the two main parties has created the joke about the “GERBSP party” ruling the country, as well as raising concerns
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about possible high-level and large-scale corruption and about a dangerous turn towards Russia.
Sofia would still have to formally decide who will build the reactor after the parliament votes, but market experts suspect that Bulgaria has already agreed to give the project to Russia’s Rosatom.
“Bulgaria has already agreed to give the project to Russia’s Rosatom”
The Russian company has said that it will participate in the project, although the government has said that China’s CNNC and French Framatom are also interested.
The parliament vote neatly coincides with visits to Russia by both President Rumen Radev (of BSP) and Prime
deviation from the European path, and an attempt to make Bulgaria’s energy dependence from Russia impossible to overcome in the next decades”.
Experts also claim that Russia’s involve- ment will open the door for corruption and substantial bribes for members of the ruling party in return for picking a