site.btaRenegotiating National Recovery Plan Likely Means Some Loss of Funding - Minister

Caretaker Energy Minister Rosen Hristov said that the decision of Parliament mandating the government to renegotiate the energy chapter of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan to allow Bulgaria to keep its coal plants past 2025, will likely lead to loss of some funding under the Plan. He stressed that the parliamentary decision was based on an analysis showing that the economic effect from the operation of coal plants surpasses the potential losses from the possible renegotiating of the Recovery Plan.

The Minister expressed hope that the EC will appreciate the Bulgarian position, efforts and commitment to fulfill the common European goals for decarbonization.

"We don’t plant to close down coal plants in 2025," the Minister said.

Under the effective Recovery Plan, Bulgaria is supposed to slash by 40% carbon emissions which is widely believed to mean closing down coal plants.

"This is not about having some destructive talk with the EC. We expect constructive support," he said. He reiterated that Bulgaria does not seek to give up the decarbonization goals. "It asks to keep its commitment and go along with the other European countries towards decarbonization and meeting the targets: first in 2030 and then 2050," Hristov said.

He also said: "What we want to take to the EC is a commitment, a clear and technically-backed vision, with all kinds of analyses: something that would guarantee to a maximum extent that we can deliver on what we will promise, unlike the current commitments which lack any technical justification."

The Minister said he is aware that the talks with the EC will be complex but hope they will be successful "because we have strong arguments for what we propose and it is entirely in line with the European interests and matched the goals of decarbonization and green energy," he said.