Bulgaria's hopes to reopen two of the units at its sole nuclear power plant Kozloduy that were decommissioned upon its EU accession, have been dealt a new blow at the European Parliament.

"Bulgaria is facing an economic crisis more severe than the financial collapse of the 90s in the wake of the shutting down of Kozloduy units 3 and 4," Hristo Hristov, head of the Energy Institute, said on Wednesday at the European Parliament.

He joined a debate on the future of the energy resources on the Balkans, organized by MEPs from GERB, the popular centre-right party of Sofia mayor Boyko Borisov.

Hristov warned that Bulgaria will be forced to reopen the two units unilaterally and quit the CO2 trading scheme of the European Union, should Brussels stand its ground against the reopening of the two nuclear units.

"This is a closed issue for us," Christian Waeterloos, head of the nuclear energy directorate with the European Commission, said in the parliamentary hall.

He advised Bulgaria's politicians to seek alternative ways of financing to make up for the energy shortage due and ruled out a new peer review of the units.

Bulgaria had to shut down the twin 440 M units 3 and 4 at the plant hours before it joined the EU in January 2007, but has not given up on the prospect of firing them back up.

Bulgaria could lease two units at its Kozloduy nuclear power plant to the foreign firm that will help lobby for their restart, Bulgarian prime minister Sergey Stanishev announced in the middle of January.

The country's accession treaty stipulates that the reactors can be fired up if all other EU member states agree to sign an annex in that sense, but some countries have proven reluctant to do so, Stanishev said.

Sofia estimates the lost revenue from shutting down the two reactors at EUR 2,5 B and argues that the units pose no danger, a point of view that is not shared by the EU.

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