A day after Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev said that Bulgaria was interested in getting the energy portfolio in the new European Commission, he added the portfolios of economy and EU enlargement to his list, Bulgarian language Dnevnik daily said on June 20 2009.
 
Stanishev made the statement at a news conference in Brussels where he attended a meeting of the European Council.
 
Bulgaria had an active role in building the EU’s common energy policy, he said, and gave the example of the energy forum on natural gas that President Georgi Purvanov hosted in Sofia on April 24-25 2009.
 
The summit was attended by representatives of 30 countries and institutions from South Eastern Europe, the Black Sea and Caspian regions, Central Asia, EU countries, the US, Russia, Egypt, Qatar, the European Commission and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
 
As for the enlargement portfolio, Stanishev said that Bulgaria had gained valuable experience from its recent accession to the EU. Bulgaria and Romania were the most recent countries to join the EU, in 2007.
 
On the subject of the future Bulgaria European Commissioner, Stanishev said that the current Bulgaria representative in the EC, Meglena Kouneva, was a successful commissioner but there were other strong candidates. He said that to is up to the next Bulgarian government to decide who it will nominate for the post. Bulgaria holds national parliamentary elections on July 5 2009.
 
Stanishev said that the EC would  soon allocate 300 million euro compensation to Bulgaria for the closure of two units of its Kozloduy nuclear power plant. The units had to be closed as part of Bulgaria’s deal to join the EU in 2007.
 
Stanishev also reaffirmed Bulgaria’s support to the candidacy of Barroso’s for a second consecutive term as EC president, Dnevnik said.