New Bulgarian government to complete Belene

09 July 2009

[Sofia News Agency, 8 July] The centre-right Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party, which won general elections in the country on 5 July, is determined to continue with the construction of the Belene nuclear power plant, but with private funding. Biser Boev, GERB's economic advisor and probably Bulgaria's next economy minister, said it would be irresponsible of the new government to abandon such a big project. He said, "We have to see what money we are talking about, because in the next four years Bulgaria will lack financial resources, and will deal with the challenges of the financial crisis every day." Boev said that negotiations with Germany's RWE over finding finance for the Belene plant must be accelerated as Bulgaria cannot afford to give guarantees for the entire project. He said that all investment projects started by the previously government must be reviewed to determine which should proceed and which should be stopped or postponed.