Electricity from coal will be produced without restrictions at least until December 31, 2038, the deputies decided with the adoption of the road map for energy neutrality of the Republic of Bulgaria. Against the texts were BSP, “There Is Such a People and “Vazrazhdane”.
The extraordinary meeting of the parliamentary energy committee was held earlier yesterday.
The trade union organizations, whose chairmen were present at the meeting, supported both the draft decision and the updated road map. They suggested that the text stipulate that the National Assembly obliges the Council of Ministers to bring the territorial plans in line with the updated road map and the agreement ratified by the Parliament by November 30 of this year. This proposal was not recognized and therefore was not voted on.
Later, the point was proposed for the ongoing plenary session and to be voted on today. The reason – this week Bulgaria will send a request to the European Commission for the second tranche of the Recovery and Sustainability Plan. The road map in question is a key text, along with the Personal Bankruptcy Act. The rulers promised it will pass by the end of the year.
At the beginning of the debate, Dragomir Stoynev (BSP) stated that the road map did not change anything except tables and the years in which coal plants will be closed. According to him, with this draft decision, the Bulgarian energy industry was doomed to death and defined it as a “lie” and “hypocrisy“. Stoynev added that the road map was updated so quickly that the report of the Energy Transition Commission was not synchronized. His colleague Georgi Gyokov defined the parties supporting the texts as “national traitors” and “a criminal group for the destruction of the Bulgarian energy industry“.
“Better pack your bags and leave this building. Leave the Bulgarian energy sector behind,” concluded Stoynev.
In turn, Venko Sabrutev (WCC-DB), who is also a co-sponsor of the draft decision, announced that the texts give peace of mind to those working in the mines, that they will work without restrictions for the next 15 years. He called on politicians not to mislead the public, because the market, not the texts, will determine if and which plants should be closed.
Iskra Mihailova from “Vazrazhdane” stated that the rush to push through the texts is the money under the Recovery Plan and its distribution to companies close to the government. She is referring to the list of companies in question, which, according to Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov, is necessary for Bulgaria to receive money under the Just Transition Fund. According to Mihailova, an extraordinary absentee meeting of the Council of Ministers was held late Thursday evening, at which the updated road map was voted on.
After that, Iskren Mitev came to the podium and called on Mihailova to withdraw her people from the protest, who are candidates for municipal councilors, and to stop feeding them cheese sandwiches.
Pavela Mitova from “There Is Such a People” stated that there is no point in this debate, because the result of the vote is predetermined.
Ramadan Atalay (DPS) made the last speech in which he announced that it is not bad for DPS to be a balancer.