Bulgaria's president, prime minister and parliamentary speaker are expected to come up with a common position on the future of Bulgaria's nuclear power plant units 3 and 4 after the peer review results are announced officially, it emerged after a meeting of President Parvanov and Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg December 22.

Brussels is due to announce the official results of the peer review in March or April next year.

Great expectations, initially pinned on the meeting, were tempered first by Parliamentary Speaker Ognyan Gerzhikov, who warned two days ago that disagreements between the president and prime minister stand in the way of a common position on the issue.

President Parvanov insists that the operations of units 3, 4 are prolonged after 2006, while Saxe-Coburg wants Bulgaria to stand by its commitment for closing the two 440-megawatt reactors by the end of 2006.

Many experts and politicians, however, are still opposing the decision, insisting that it would prompt an economic crisis in the country.

The closure of the two oldest units at the end of last year came after many years of concern over their safety, strong pressure from the European Union, protests from the nuclear lobby and opposition parties that the reactors are economically necessary.

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