Brussels, 15/02/2007 (Agence Europe) - As part of Thursday's Energy Council in Brussels, the Bulgarian minister of energy, Rumen Ovcharov, gave an interview to EUROPE in which he outlined Sofia's position on the question of energy shortages in South East Europe and the energy package.
AGENCE EUROPE: Will you raise within the Energy Council the issue of energy shortage in the Balkans region due to the closing of Kosloduy nuclear plant's units 3 and 4?
Rumen Ovcharov: I will raise the issue today because the main theme of our meeting is security of energy supply. In South East Europe (Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Greece) the problem is quite clear. In some countries shortages of supply are more than 12 hours per day and those countries are surviving because of a very warm winter. The deficit in the region is already more than 20 billion K W per hour for 2007, which is close to 10% of the overall consumption in the region. Prices are going up and have practically doubled in the Southern European markets rising from 40 to 50 euros per megawatt hour to 80 to 100 euros per MW hour. That makes economic growth in this region practically impossible.
AGENCE EUROPE: Is that a false allegation from the media that you've asked the Commission's permission to restart the nuclear reactors in order to satisfy demand in the region?
Rumen Ovcharov: I have to be absolutely clear: Bulgaria is engaged to fulfil its obligations regarding the accession treaty to stop units 3 and 4 before the end of 2006. We are not asking for renegotiation of the already taken obligations, we are not going to restart the units. But we are asking some questions. We are part of the so-called Treaty of the Energy Community of Southern Europe. We intend to create an energy market in South Eastern Europe and we have to provide this region with supply solutions. It will propose a special meeting today with ministers of the Energy Community to discuss this topic and try to find some solutions.
AGENCE EUROPE: Is Bulgaria really willing to request a doubling in Community compensation for the closure of Kozloduy units 3 and 4?
Rumen Ovcharov: We are not just asking for nothing and we are following our obligations. We are just expecting a responsible and reasonable approach to the question of energy shortage in South Eastern Europe.
AGENCE EUROPE: What is the Bulgarian government's position on the energy package? Is Bulgaria backing the proposed binding target for renewable energies?
Rumen Ovcharov: Bulgaria is not backing this position but backs indicative goals. The question is not to increase the part of renewable energies in the energy mix but our goal aims at decreasing energy production of C02 emissions.
AGENCE EUROPE: So you think that nuclear energy is a good solution for this?
Rumen Ovcharov: Absolutely. We cannot anymore avoid this question because one or two countries don't want to discuss this issue for internal political reasons.
AGENCE EUROPE: On the unbundling issue, what is the Bulgarian government's position?
Rumen Ovcharov: We are supporting the Commission's position but this should not be done immediately. We still need to analyse the situation in the countries because we will open the markets only on the first of July. In Bulgaria we need some time to see what's to be done, because until now, the opening of the markets is not giving quite good results. (eh)