Top Bulgarian Presidential Hopeful Vows Never to Be 'Anti-Russian'

Rosen Plevneliev, ruling party GERB's presidential candidate, has vowed to never conduct "anti-Russian" policies if he gets elected President of Bulgaria.

Plevneliev, who is well ahead in the polls for the Bulgarian presidential elections on October 23, 2011, spoke Sunday at a news conference with international media in Sofia.

The past couple of weeks saw a number of articles in the Russian press predicting that, if elected President of Bulgaria, Plevneliev would not be "Russia's friend" because of his association with Prime Minister Boyko Borisov – a forecast that Plevneliev has tried to refute. The Russian press, however, has inevitably contrasted him with outgoing Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov, a former Socialist Party leader known for his pro-Russian sympathies, and advocacy for major Bulgarian-Russian energy projects.

In addition to making it clear he would not be "anti-Russian", Borisov's candidate for the Presidency sought to reject the clich? saying that Bulgaria has acted as "Russia's Trojan horse in the EU" since its accession to the Union in 2007; instead, Plevneliev emphasized that "Bulgaria will be Russia's door to the EU."

"The energy projects cannot be realized at any cost, and simply because they are Russian. An energy project can be realized only after we get the figures on the table, and get a complete justification of its purpose," presidential hopeful Plevneliev, who quit his job as Regional Development Minister in the Borisov Cabinet to run for President, told foreign journalists in Sofia Sunday.

Of the three major Bulgarian-Russian energy projects agreed in January 2008 by Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov (and described by him as a "Grand Slam"), and then Russian President Vladimir Putin, only the project for the Bulgarian section of the South Stream gas transit pipeline has emerged to be unproblematic.

Bulgaria and Russia are still haggling about the price of the Belene nuclear power plant project, which is supposed to be constructed by Russian state company Atomstroyexport; at the same time, the fate of the Bulgarian-Greek-Russian project for the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline remains unclear but the Borisov Cabinet has largely stalled the project, allegedly out of environmental concerns.

"It is in the best interest of Bulgaria and Russia to sit down and assess the benefits of each energy project and how it will contribute to the interests of each state," Plevneliev told the correspondent of Russian news agency ITAR-TASS in Sofia.

"Bulgaria's relations with Russia are not solely limited to energy ties and the "Grand Slam" (i.e. referring to Parvanov's quote above – editor's note), but our nations are also connected with great friendship feelings and economic ties," the presidential hopeful said, vowing that he will work to improve these relations, which is why his policies as a President of Bulgaria could not be "anti-Russian."

Plevneliev further pointed out that energy policies are a very comprehensive topic which includes energy security and independent, energy efficiency, energy market liberalization, among other things.

He confirmed his intention to work for the completion of the construction of the Bulgaria-Turkey and Bulgaria-Greece gas interconnectors by 2013, and of the Bulgaria-Serbia and Bulgaria-Romania gas interconnectors by 2014.

The need to connect Bulgaria's natural gas distribution network with that of its neighbors became obvious in January 2009 when the Russian-Ukrainian gas war terminated the Russian gas supplies to Bulgaria (and much of the rest of Europe) exposing Bulgaria's weakness as it keeps importing almost 100% of natural gas from Russia's Gazprom.

"With the construction of these interconnectors Bulgaria will be independent with respect to the natural gas supplies, so that nobody will be able to it in the cold as it happened in 2009," Plevneliev declared.

The presidential candidate further made clear his intention to prioritize on the development of a massive program for the energy modernization of the so called "panel construction" residential and apartment buildings from the communist period dotting Bulgaria (and the other former communist nations).

He stressed that such a modernization program will "make cities more beautiful, reduce energy bills almost in half, and drive property prices up."

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!