‘Only BSP managed to bring down the price of electricity’

 

Sergei Stanishev, Member of the European Parliament, met Maroš Šefčovič, European Commission’s Vice-President for the Energy Union during EP’s plenary session in Strasbourg.

 

Stanishev welcomed the commitment made by Šefčovič to put a strong emphasis on the social aspect of the energy policy of the Union by working towards lowering of the price of energy, which apart from the social effect will boost Europe’s competitiveness. ‘In Bulgaria the electricity and heating bills are unbearable for a large part of the population. Far too often energy policies serve corporate instead of consumer interests. Only during our government’s term between June 2013 and August 2014 electricity prices were hold and decreased. We showed that if there is political will anything is possible. One of our first decisions was to provide energy aid for the poor during the cold winter months to cover their heating expenses. This is not exclusively a Bulgarian problem: energy poverty increases throughout Europe and people cannot pay their bills’, the Bulgarian MEP commented.

 

Another important subject covered during the meeting was Juncker’s Investment Plan. Stanishev said that priority financing should go to projects improving the energy infrastructure in Europe and the building of intersystem gas connections. On diversification, Stanishev, who is also PES President, expressed his support for the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) and the interconnecting gas pipeline between Bulgaria and Greece.

 

On South Stream, Stanishev said: ‘The project should not be considered only in the context of the status-quo of the current political crisis, but as a project with long-term economic perspective which will create a number of jobs and will secure Russian gas supply directly to Europe, without any intermediaries. I was Prime Minister in 2009 when Bulgaria was one of the countries hit most by the gas crisis. For more than 2 weeks hospitals, schools and kindergartens had no heating and electricity and the Bulgarian economy suffered more than 200 mln Euro losses. This must not happen again, we must not become hostage of the relations between Russia and Ukraine. The South Stream project is of key importance for our country, it will completely change the role of Bulgaria on the European energy map. Diversification should be twofold – both in terms of sources and of routes’.