Bulgaria is keen to get French companies to invest in the Belene nuclear power station project, will get French help in modernising Belgian frigates bought by a previous government, will not go ahead with a long-delayed plan to buy French corvettes, while Sofia and Paris will "help each other" on the issue of future European Commissioners.
 
This emerged on October 13 2009 from government statements and Bulgarian media reports after the first day of Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borissov’s visit to France, during which he met president Nicolas Sarkozy and prime minister Francois Fillon.
 
Borissov had some disappointing, but probably not surprising, news for his countepart Fillon, that Bulgaria would not go ahead with a long-standing plan to buy corvettes from France.
 
The deal has been discussed for several years but, Borissov told Fillon, Bulgaria did not have the money to make the purchase.
 
Borissov said that France had shown understanding that Bulgaria did not have enough money in its national budget to purchase them.
 
"A very unpleasant topic, because the Budget does not ensure money for the new corvettes and 150 million to 160 million leva will have to be spent on the repair of the Belgian frigates," Borissov said.
 
The two Belgian frigates that Bulgaria bought under a previous government will be modernised in 2011 with France’s help, Borissov said after his talks with Sarkozy.
 
Borissov asked Fillon to encourage French companies to invest in the Belene nuclear power station project, which, reports said, Fillon agreed to do.
 
Fillon pledged that France would assist in the payment of 300 million euro that the European Union promised to Bulgaria as additional compensation for the closure of units 3 and 4 of Kozloduy nuclear power station. The units were shut down in the final moments of 2006 as part of the deal that enabled Bulgaria’s accession to the EU on January 1 2007.
 
Borisov briefed Sarkozy on full details of the Belene project, with the tenders and technology.
 
According to a report by Dnevnik, Borissov said that Sarkozy had been puzzled by the Belene project’s price tag, which was originally put at 3.9 billion euro but will be updated to 10 billion euro, according to calculations done by Borissov’s Government after it took office in July 2009.
 
Russia’s AtomStroyExport was picked contractor on the Belene project, while France’s Areva will act as subcontractor.
 
Bulgaria’s Economy, Energy and Tourism Minister Traicho Traikov met officials from the French company as well as major French firms including Carrefour, Societe Generale, Gaz de France, Schneider Electric, Dalkia and BNP Paribas. He conferred with several French companies within the meeting organised by MEDEF, the biggest organisation of French industrialists. Energy companies showed interest in Bulgaria’s heating utility sector.
 
French companies are eager to join in public-private partnerships in the concession of water and sewerage companies, Traikov told journalists, according to a report by Bulgarian news agency Focus.
 
The law is ready, and there is some work to do with the secondary legislation, Traikov was quoted as saying.
 
Focus reported that Borissov and Sarkozy discussed the possible portfolios of the new European Commissioners.
 
Borissov told journalists: "Regarding the European Commissioners, we know our abilities and wishes. What we have agreed with president Sarkozy is to help each other."
 
Bulgaria has nominated its current Foreign Minister Roumyana Zheleva, who is part of the delegation visiting Paris, to join the new European Commission with the energy portfolio. Alternative portfolios being sought for Zheleva are enlargement and regional development.
 
Borissov said that consultations with other prime ministers on the future European Commissioners would be held as well so that a common position could be reached.
 
Borissov, who from 2001 to 2005 was chief secretary of the Interior Ministry, said that he and Sarkozy – interior minister in Dominique de Villepin’s government from 2005 to 2007 – had worked together for five years.