Bulgaria has lodged an appeal with the European Court of Justice against the decision of the European Commission to drastically reduce the greenhouse emissions quota of the country.

This is the first time that Bulgaria launches legal proceedings against the European Commission as member of the European Union, which it joined on January 1, 2007.

In October, the EC cut on Bulgaria's greenhouse emissions for 2008-2012 by 37%, saying that the ministry did not offer compelling arguments in defence of its demand for a bigger quota.

"We will not let Bulgaria turn from a potential seller of carbon credits into a buyer," Environment Minister Dzhevdet Chakarov have commented.

Experts claim that Bulgaria is in a desperate search for a way to prevent the drastic quota cut, as it would be disastrous for the industry.

According to the ministry, the new quota is not correctly calculated and the EC has not taken in mind the closing of unit 3 and 4 of Bulgaria's nuclear power plant Kozloduy, which will make CO2 producing thermal power plants work at full capacity.

In a bid to protect Bulgaria's greenhouse emissions quota Chakarov conferred in November with the EU Commissioner for the Environment Stavros Dimas but the meeting yielded no results.

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