Bulgarian Parliament Head: Belene Decision Was Toughest Ever

The Speaker of the Bulgarian Parliament, Tsetska Tsacheva, says the Belene NPP project was a miracle that would never materialize over its steep price. File photo

The decision to scrap the project to build jointly with Russia a second Nuclear Power Plant in Bulgaria's Danube town of Belene was the toughest in my life, says Speaker of the Parliament, Tsetska Tsacheva.

Speaking Saturday in an interview for TV7, Tsacheva said she wanted all viewers and fellow people from the Pleven region, where she was elected Member of the Parliament to hear this.

She stressed that the most difficult task is ahead of her because she has yet to meet with voters from the region.

"Citizens in northwestern Bulgaria and the Pleven region have no major project and all hopes were put on Belene. This is the truth," the Speaker commented.

Similarly to Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, Tsacheva blamed the previous cabinet of the Three-Way Coalition and his predecessor Sergey Stanishev, leader of the opposition left-wing Bulgarian Socialist Party, BSP, of not signing the contract on Belene, and leaving the task of burying it to the next government.

"Stanishev brags that during his term there was budget surplus, but failed to ink the project. His two Socialist Economy and Energy Ministers, Rumen Ovcharov and Petar Dimitrov failed to sign the contract. We waited for 30 years for this miracle. We knew the price would be too high," she concluded.

On Wednesday the cabinet of Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, and his ruling Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria party, GERB, decided to give up on the controversial Belene project, terminating the contract with the Russians. The next day, the decision was approved by the Parliament.

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