Analyst: Bulgarian Govt Wants to Defend National Interest on Energy

Business » ENERGY | July 6, 2010, Tuesday // 11:37
Bulgaria: Analyst: Bulgarian Govt Wants to Defend National Interest on Energy The route of Nabucco gas pipeline, a project of the EU seen as a rival to Russia's South Stream. Image by BGNES.

The present Bulgarian government has expressed its clear commitment to defending national interest in energy matters and in relations between Bulgaria and Russia, said a leading Bulgarian political analyst Monday.

According to Ognyan Minchev, speaking in an interview for Bulgarian National TV, there is a certain incompatibility between the interests of Bulgaria and Russia in the energy sphere, because for Russia the energy question is not only economic, but also strategic.

The right-leaning commentator stated that Bulgaria should not confine itself to one energy supplier and should strongly seek diversification. Minchev suggested that contracts on gas delivery with Russia should be “unbundled”.

Regarding future big energy projects with Russia, Minchev said he considers the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline as unfavorable for Bulgaria, while he thinks that the South Stream gas pipeline can be favorable, if renegotiated. He was unclear about his support of projected Belene NPP, though not overly favorable, which is still a change from a previously voiced negative position.

Minchev admitted that there is some going back and forth in the positions of Bulgarian PM Boyko Borisov and energy minister Traicho Traikov, but he was firm that it is clear that the cabinet is bent on defending Bulgaria's authentic national interests.

In an aside about the anniversary of GERB's landslide victory on the July 5, 2009, Ognyan Minchev was more critical. He commented that it is outside all doubt that GERB is not an alternative public movement, but rather an alternative clique servicing particular private interests. Nevertheless, compared to the previous three-way coalition cabinet, there is much more will that things happen the right way, according to Minchev.

Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov will meet Bulgarian PM Borisov Tuesday for talks on the large-scale joint energy projects – the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline, the South Stream gas transit pipeline, and the Belene Nuclear Power Plant. A delegation of Bulgarian experts is going to visit Moscow Thrusday, July 8, for energy talks with Gazprom.

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Tags: South stream, Burgas-Alexandroupolis, Belene NPP, diversification, Russian gas, Traicho Traikov, Boyko Borisov, GERB, GERB cabinet

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