Bulgaria's Ruling GERB Clashes with Socialists over NPP Referendum Question

Business » ENERGY | October 17, 2012, Wednesday // 13:04
Bulgaria: Bulgaria's Ruling GERB Clashes with Socialists over NPP Referendum Question Legal Affairs Committee Chairperson Iskra Fidosova has claimed that the question proposed by BSP is misleading and unconstitutional. Photo by BGNES

Bulgarian center-right ruling party GERB has proposed a concrete wording of the question for the referendum on the Belene nuclear power plant (NPP) project.

GERB's version of the question reads: "Should Bulgaria develop nuclear energy by building a new nuclear power plant?"

The proposal of the center-right ruling party is to be submitted Wednesday with the Parliament's Clerk Office, after which the Parliamentary Legal Affairs Committee will review GERB's version and the wording suggested by the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP).

GERB believes that the question put up by Bulgarian socialists is "extremely manipulative and contains at least two or three other questions", including "Should Bulgaria develop nuclear energy?" and "Should there be state participation in the construction of a nuclear power plant?"

"BSP's question involves a concrete project and we every reason to believe that it is unconstitutional," according to Legal Affairs Committee Chairperson Iskra Fidosova.

GERB protests the question proposed by BSP, saying that it would result in a flawed referendum.

Bulgaria's center-right ruling party says it backs the holding of a referendum on the topic as long as the question has been correctly worded because it would have important  repercussions for Bulgarian society.

According to GERB, the first mistake in the question put up by BSP is that it defines nuclear energy as "atomic energy."

GERB further insists that the second part of the question is manipulative.

When asked if GERB's wording includes the scenario of a new block built at the Kozloduy NPP, Fidosova responded negatively, specifying that "a new block would entail the construction of new nuclear capacities, not a new NPP."

The GERB government scrapped the Belene NPP project in March 2012, declaring it economically unfeasible.

The pro-Belene, opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party, BSP, then launched a petition for a referendum on the fate of the Russian-Bulgarian project.

The inspection of the petition yielded 543 639 valid signatures, enough to make the vote irreversible.

The question of the petition is: "Should nuclear energy be developed in Bulgaria through the construction of a Nuclear Plant on the Belene site?"

The referendum is expected to take place within the next three months.

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

Energy » Be a reporter: Write and send your article
Tags: Belene NPP, Kozloduy NPP, Nuclear Power Plant, nuclear energy, Referendum, Bulgarian Socialist Party, BSP, GERB, ruling party, center-right party, Iskra Fidosova

Advertisement
Advertisement
Bulgaria news Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency - www.sofianewsagency.com) is unique with being a real time news provider in English that informs its readers about the latest Bulgarian news. The editorial staff also publishes a daily online newspaper "Sofia Morning News." Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency - www.sofianewsagency.com) and Sofia Morning News publish the latest economic, political and cultural news that take place in Bulgaria. Foreign media analysis on Bulgaria and World News in Brief are also part of the web site and the online newspaper. News Bulgaria