Switzerland Drops Air Border Controls for Bulgaria and Romania
Switzerland has decided to eliminate passport checks at its airports for travelers flying to and from Bulgaria and Romania, following the European Union's recent move
HOT: » Assessing the Legacy of Bulgaria's "Denkov" Cabinet: Achievements, Failures, and What Comes Next
Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev has elaborated on his stance on Russia in an interview for Swiss daily Tages-Anzeiger.
In an interview titled “Gas is Not a Weapon”, Plevneliev reiterates his opinion that Russia is acting as a nationalistic and aggressive state, adding that his announcement is accompanied by hopes that the Russian leadership will come to their senses.
“We also wish that the amicable cooperation between Bulgarians and Russians has a future. However, I draw a sharp line of division between the Russian people and the Russian leadership. The Russia of Tchaikovsky, Dostoevsky, and Tolstoy is a Russia of talent, world culture and value-building on all levels. There is nothing wrong about that. However, the current leadership in the Kremlin does not uphold these values,” he states.
Asked to comment on the consequences of Russia’s annexation of Crimea, Plevneliev underscores that the move has a direct impact on Bulgaria as the two countries are some 200 kilometers apart and there are 300 000 Bulgarians living in Ukraine.
He argues that Bulgaria, like the whole of Central and Eastern Europe, is affected by the great strategic power shifts in the Black Sea region.
Plevneliev claims that the substantial increase in the number of Russian fighter jets stationed in the region after the annexation of Crimea by no means contributes to a Europe in which everybody sees each other as a partner and a Europe in which it is the rule of law that counts and not the rule of sheer strength.
Asked to elaborate on Bulgaria’s dependence on Russian gas, Plevneliev admits that the country’s gas reserves will last for 40 days, which means that Russia can use this to exert pressure over Bulgaria.
Bulgaria’s President, however, draws attention to the fact that “gas is a commodity and not an energy weapon.”
According to Plevneliev, gas is a commodity for which supply contracts are signed.
He says that Bulgaria wants to see Russia as a country which is willing to act as a partner and which values the signatures it has placed under contracts.
As regards the issue of Russian assistance for the construction of a new nuclear power plant in Bulgaria, Plevneliev suggests that the country simply does not need additional nuclear capacity.
He insists that the construction of the Belene Nuclear Power Plant would cost EUR 10 B and result in the production of an extra 2000 MW of electricity, while an investment of EUR 1.5 B in energy efficiency measures such as energy retrofits would save 2000 MW.
Asked to elaborate on the current state of affairs in Bulgaria and the fact that the country is about to welcome its fourth government in the course of two years, he says that the most obvious problem is the lack of trust of Bulgarians in political institutions, with only 6% of the respondents in a survey saying that they trust Parliament.
He notes, however, that the civil society in Bulgaria has become very active over the past two years.
Plevneliev points out that Bulgarians have even set a record by holding over 440 days of uninterrupted street protests against the government.
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