Bulgaria is still undecided on the second nuclear power station "Belene"
Adelina Marini, September 8, 2009
This is the impression left with the French state secretary for European affairs Mr. Pierre Lellouche who is on a visit in Bulgaria today and met with the Bulgarian prime minister Boyko Borisov. The meeting lasted longer than planned - 1 hour and 15 minutes, during which they discussed many issues, one of which - energy. According to Mr. Lellouche, if Bulgaria decides in the future to realise the construction of the second nuclear power station then France will participate actively in the construction, as agreed. He added that, given the gas dependency of Bulgaria, nuclear energy is one of the solutions.
He reminded that France gains 80% of the electricity the country consumes from the 62 nuclear reactors. Besides, Pierre Lellouche said that one of the aims of the French president Nicolas Sarkozy is the cooperation within the EU in the field of nuclear energy to increase. "We think that Bulgaria should not be left alone when the country has to defy challenges like black-outs because of gas deliveries disruptions. More globally, I think that all of us should succeed in agreeing on a common Community energy policy by thus decreasing our dependence on suppliers", the French state secretary added.
The new Bulgarian government has received more credit of confidence by the French government which until recently was very critical to the situation in Bulgaria. The support is for the efforts of the new cabinet to fight corruption and organised crime. But he underlined that France will anticipate results right after the moment comes.