In the fuss around the referendum on the country’s second nuclear project Belene important issues were again pushed aside. The check of the capitals of the investor Global Power Consortium which had been entrusted to the Secret Service got lost somewhere and now no one mentions even a word around the requested information from the U.S. Embassy. What is more than strange is that the ruling GERB raised the threshold for requesting a referendum in particular after the turning up of the second candidate for the nuke.
Minister of Economy and Energy Delian Dobrev satisfied to make a brief statement on the subject in a television studio: What we have seen so far for the prospective investor in NPP Belene – the U.S. Global Power Consortium does not satisfy our interest. Currently we have neither a strategic investor, nor does the state have money for the construction of NPP Belene.
Ex-minister of Economy and Energy Traicho Traikov also added a few touches this week. He admitted publicly that back in the period he was head of the energy sector, experts were aware of the interest of Global Power in Belene and even met with representatives of the consortium.
Traikov said he requested information about the applicant by U.S. authorities through the state’s embassy in the country, but then he received a reply that they have no information about the company.
Ex-minister described the meeting with the Global Power as follows: They came and said – we know here is to be built a Russian plant. We don’t know anything about the project, but we want to invest EUR billion. And compared their behavior with that of the authors of the fraudulent emails that offer fabulous profits to thousands people. This is a company, a financial organization that is not a strategic investor, with no experience in the management of nuclear power plants and no long-term interest in energy assets, much less nuclear. They don’t say clearly how will they find the funds for the construction of Belene. Which means that theoretically the money may thus come from Al Qaeda, said Mr. Traikov.
Well, given that there are so many doubts about Global Power, what is the general referendum to be done for? Wasn’t the initial idea, if people respond positively, the National Assembly to vote and give the executive power a mandate to negotiate with the private investor? At the same time it becomes increasingly clear that the U.S. capital includes a Bulgarian group with a strong Russian flavour. In this situation, the only benefit for the Government of a possible referendum will be the option to wash their hands off eventual de-freezing of NPP Belene project with the reason that people decided so.
Mr. Traicho Traikov named the turning up of Global Power as staged and directed. Obviously, the whole show which is taking place around the NPP Belene in the recent days, can serve only the interests of the Russian side.
