The Energy Commission wants urgent decisions on what to do with Maritsa East

The Energy and Climate Commission of the National Assembly will schedule a hearing of the caretaker Minister of Energy Andrey Zhivkov on what is to happen in the Maritsa East complex. The topic was part of the five points identified by commission chairman Ivan Hinovski as extremely important.

In particular, it is about the Law for amendment and supplement of the Law for energy for creation of a specialized enterprise "Mining conversions" on the proposal of the Council of Ministers. "The executive must say what will be done in Maritsa East," MRF MP Ramadan Atalay commented within the commission. According to him, people should be told how they will be laid off, how they will be retrained, what they will receive as money.

Earlier, during the discussion of the topic, the former Deputy Minister of Energy and current member of the GERB-UDF parliamentary group Zhecho Stankov explained that at the end of July the Ministry of Energy should have received a report from the EC consultant on the territorial plans for the four coal region - Price Waterhouse Coopers to clarify future steps.

Ivan Hinovski, as well as the members of the commission, expressed full agreement with the fact that the executive branch in the person of the Minister of Energy should be heard on this topic. Zhecho Stankov, for his part, clarified that the final plan for the coal regions should be ready by the end of December 2021. He also explained that in the Climate and Energy Plan, which is to be renewed in 2023, the topic of coal-fired power plants is not ignored at all, and their production in the future is planned to be gradually reduced from 17 TW to 14 TW and in at the end of a ten-year period it drops to 7 TW.

Martin Dimitrov from Democratic Bulgaria, for his part, insisted that Minister Zhivkov be heard on the energy projects in the Recovery and Sustainability Plan, and his proposal met with both objections and support.

Of course, the meeting of the parliamentary committee on energy and climate did not pass without controversy. In particular, Ramadan Atalay raised the issue that "we are a commission without a government decision. It is as if we are at a round table and we are limited to the capabilities of the caretaker government, "he said, explaining in this context that the caretaker government does not have the power to amend the legislation.

Armen Babikyan from "Stand up! We are coming!" Described this as inverted logic.

The deputies did not have full agreement on whether or not to have an Energy Strategy. According to Zhecho Stankov, the Climate and Energy Plan should be the leader.

At the next meeting, the Parliamentary Committee on Energy and Climate will appoint the members of the two subcommittees: Green Policies and Climate and Monitoring the Work of the EWRC. A decision is to be made on the future actions for election of a chairman of the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission, as the mandate of the current head Ivan Ivanov has long expired.

As noted by the Chairman of the Energy Commission Ivan Hinovski 7, it is extremely important for the Minister of Energy to be heard on the tender for a new nuclear power plant for the Belene NPP. "As far as I hear, the candidate investors are preparing claims," ​​Hinovski said, but whether this item would be on the agenda for the hearing of Energy Minister Zhivkov was unclear.

The proposal for an Act amending the Energy Act to create a new structure in the EWRC - Inspectorate or strengthening the existing Directorate for Supervision of Stock Exchanges and Verification of Consumer Complaints - as set out in the agenda with proposal of the Council of Ministers. Of course, there is no specification as to exactly how this will happen, given that the IBEX is with the BSE.