Geoffrey van Orden, rapporteur on Bulgaria in the European parliament, told the June 2 forum in Varna on nuclear energy and the environment that he worried by a requirement in the latest European Commission report demanding that Bulgaria take steps to ensure the “irreversible dismantling” of units 1 and 2 of Kozloduy nuclear power plant.

Van Orden said that this requirement, included in the May 16 EC report on Bulgaria’s readiness to join the EU, looked like “an unwarranted lack of trust” t in Bulgaria. The report seemed to be imposing new requirements on Bulgaria.

He told the forum that he did not believe that Bulgaria would be interested in re-opening the energy chapter of accession negotiations.
“I have questioned the closing of units 3 and 4 of Kozloduy in 2006 and I have offered a flexible solution to the issue,”  Van Orden said
Van Orden said that energy now topped the agenda of the EU. He said that this was a major issue and that he would continue to support the nuclear sector.

Asked whether the new wording of the report meant that Bulgaria would have to actually start dismantling units 1 and 2 to prove its seriousness, Van Orden said that this would be an additional condition that had not been set in the accession treaty signed between Bulgaria and Romania and the EU in April 2005.

Such irreversible measures had not been set out in the treaty, and it would be “unfortunate” if the EC’s language in its latest monitoring report were to be interpreted in this way, Van Orden said.

He said that any talk of renegotiating the closure of Kozloduy’s units could serve as an excuse to those who were not in favour of Bulgaria joining the EU.

“It would not be helpful to give the impression that Bulgaria is not willing to fulfil its obligations,” Van Orden said.

He said that he had always been a supporter of the nuclear sector and that he had argued for some flexibility on the closure of units 3 and 4, but the time was not right for Bulgaria to try for any further gains.

He said that, were Bulgaria’s accession to the EU to be postponed, this would be a slap in the face for Bulgarians, would encourage extremist forces and shake business confidence.