The potential decision of the Bulgaria’s Borisov government to back out of the large-scale energy projects is the result of foreign influence, according to former PM and Socialist Party head Sergey Stanishev.

“Prime Minister Borisov’s decision about the energy projects is objectively in favor of the interests of other countries such as Turkey, for example,” declared the Socialist leader after Tuesday’s weekly meeting of the executive bureau of his party.

Stanishev’s comment is in response to Borisov’s statements last Friday, which led everybody to believe that Bulgaria was formally quitting the Russian sponsored Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline. Subsequently, the Prime Minister clarified that there had been no formal decision of the Cabinet to withdraw, and that a final decision on the fate of the project will be made only after the completion of an internationally sanctioned environmental assessment.

Yet, he did criticize the planned Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline for its potentially destructive environmental effect likening it to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, and for its lack of economic feasibility and profitability.

With respect to another of the three big Russian-sponsored energy projects in Bulgaria, the Belene Nuclear Power Plant, Borisov said that its construction is effectively frozen until Bulgaria finds a strategic foreign investor that would be willing to pour billions of euro into the project.

“The Prime Minister’s position with respect to these two projects is clearly in the interest of other nations. It is detrimental to the country,” Stanishev said pointing out that Turkey had recently made a deal with Russia for the construction of a nuclear power plant, and is considering building the Samsun-Ceyhan oil pipeline, which is seen as a direct alternative to the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline.

“The Borisov government has not presented any environmental arguments against the Burgas-Alexandroupolis project. I get the impression that if there are no arguments, the Cabinet’s position is formed outside Bulgaria,” declared the former PM, whose government in January 2008 locked with the Russians the contracts for the construction of the oil pipeline, the NPP and the South Stream gas transit pipeline.

He pointed out that the Belene power plant has been approved by the European Commission, met all EU standards, and was going to help the EU reduce greenhouse gas emissions. “So it is hardly an European factor that is influencing the government’s position,” he stated.

“We are witnessing a complete chaos in the heads of the Cabinet members with respect to the energy projects. The Belene Nuclear Plant is a Bulgarian project that will increase Bulgaria’s energy independence and will let it produce cheaper electricity than the one provided by thermal power plants. Bulgaria traditionally exports electricity, and the construction of Belene gives us the chance to become a regional hub of electricity production and exports; it will also help Bulgaria overcome the economic crisis because it will create jobs and demand for the products of Bulgarian companies,” Stanishev said.

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