President Rosen Plevneliev called on for speeding up Bulgaria’s and the region’s integration in the European gas market, for diversifying the energy resources and routes and maintaining a balance between the energy suppliers. “Plans for building an energy center and for a “grand slam” do not impress me. I will be really impressed when the Bulgarian energy starts enjoying stable development and serves the interests of the people and the economy, not those of a group of “oligarchs,” the Head of State said in a statement made before the participants in the ninth annual meeting between the business circles and the government. The President was a special guest at the forum organized by the Capital weekly.
Rosen Plevneliev said that although he supports the idea for building a new gas hub on Bulgarian territory, he calls on for Bulgaria’s integration in the European gas market. “Prompt actions for constructing gas interconnectors with Greece, Turkey, Serbia and Romania should be taken and also Bulgaria’s own gas deposits in the Black Sea shelf should be developed,” the President emphasized.
The Head of State reiterated that the only way to ensure competition in the energy sector and reduce the prices for the consumers is to maintain a balance between the energy suppliers. “This will once and for all bring to an end the usage of gas as an energy weapon and gas will become a standard commodity to trade with – freely and at a market price,” the President commented.
Rosen Plevneliev was adamant that the measures for ensuring energy diversification and energy liberalization boost competitiveness, investments and incomes. The Head of State highlighted the signing of the agreement between Bulgaria and Azerbaijan for the purchase of one billion cubic meters of Azeri gas from 2019 onwards as an important achievement.
“In the transition years we were fed up with hearing curses uttered against Bulgaria as an energy hub. The truth is that since the communist era onwards we have been an energy hub,” the Head of State said. However, he added that the Bulgarians derive no benefits from this fact. The President recalled that for two decades Bulgaria has been a transit country for the Russian gas to different countries, nevertheless it is among those countries that pay the highest price for the fuel: “We have always been an energy hub and an exporter of electricity, yet we brought the Bulgarian energy sector to a stage of collapse,” the President said and he again criticized the “piecemeal” work and work “in the dark,” the suspicions concerning the public procurements and the inconsistent state policy in the energy sector.
Before more than 250 representatives of the business circles President Rosen Plevneliev called on also for an efficient and independent work of the regulatory bodies in Bulgaria. “We should urgently restore the trust in the Bulgarian National Bank, the Financial Supervision Commission, the State Energy and Water Regulatory Commission,” the Head of State said in his statement. Rosen Plevneliev highlighted the efficient regulatory bodies as a basic factor for restoring the trust of the investors, together with stability, the rule of law and functioning institutions.
The President also praised the work under the National Program for Energy Efficiency and said that the project on sanitizing the Bulgarian homes is the “most reasonable project we should carry out, together with education, modern infrastructure and e-government, because it affects all of us and everyone will benefit from it.”