Bulgaria PM to freeze talks on Belene NPP until referendum

Prime Minister Boyko Borisov has said that the talks with the private investor interested in the implementation of the Belene NPP should be stopped until the results of a referendum on the project come out.

The Prime Minister insisted that the referendum had to take place as soon as possible, «regardless of the way in which the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) collected over 500 000 signatures.»

Borisov declared that BSP had paid for the votes backing the referendum on Belene NPP just as the party was used to paying at elections.

Borisov further suggested that the electronic voting system could be used for the referendum, thereby making it a free-of-charge exercise of direct democracy.

Bulgaria's Prime Minister pointed out that certain issues had to be cleared during the debates on the Belene NPP project, including the source of funding for the project, the cost of electricity, the contractor who would be tasked with building the electricity transmission grid, and where the spent fuel would be stored.

Adapted from Novinite