Bulgaria to Seek EU’s Opinion on Future Action after Court Ruling on Belene Project

Bulgaria will seek the EU’s opinion about the course of action the country will take to best protect its national interest in compliance with the bloc’s energy policy following a court ruling on the Belene nuclear power plant project.

The ruling of the International Court of Arbitration requires Bulgaria to pay EUR 550 M to Russia as compensation for equipment already produced for the Belene NPP project, on the Danube river, which Bulgaria scrapped in 2012.

Prime Minister Boyko Borisov has spoken over the phone with European Council President Donald Tusk about the decision of the arbitration court in the trade dispute between Bulgarian state-owned power utility NEK and Russia’s Atomstroyexport, according to a statement from the government in Sofia released on Tuesday.

Sofia has said it is looking into options to sell to a third country the equipment already manufactured for Belene. Meanwhile, Russia’s Rosatom, the parent company of Atomstroyexport, has said that it is ready to consider the option of building new nuclear power plants in Bulgaria despite the demise of the Belene project.

On Tuesday, Borisov told Tusk that Bulgaria will send a letter to the European Commission to inform the EU executive about the potential options arising from the ruling.