ALABANIA/ BULGARIA: Bulgarian PM Sergei Stanishev visits Albania, to discuss electricity supplies with Prime Minister Sali Berisha

Record ID: 563084

  • Title: ALABANIA/ BULGARIA: Bulgarian PM Sergei Stanishev visits Albania, to discuss electricity supplies with Prime Minister Sali Berisha
  • Date: 30th January 2007
  • Summary: STANISHEV'S CAR ARRIVING AT THE PRESIDENTIAL PALACE STANISHEV BEING GREETED BY ALBANIAN PRIME MINISTER SALI BERISHA/ EMBRACING
  • Embargoed: 14th February 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations,Energy
  • Reuters ID: LVAAPWN1M2NLTHIDGVM7OZE4NC9C
  • Story Text: Bulgarian prime minister Sergei Stanishev met with Albanian prime minister Sali Berisha on Sunday (January 28) and Monday (January 29) where Albania's electricity supply came under discussion.
    Power-hungary Albania wants the European Union to review the shutdown of a Bulgarian nuclear power plant until alternative resources are built, saying it had disrupted the Balkan electricity market.
    Lack of rain that almost dried up the basins of its hydro-electric schemes and the failure of suppliers to respect contracts because of the Bulgarian plant closure have caused power cuts of 12 hours a day in Albania since November.
    Berisha says the shutting of the power plant hurts the whole regional market, rather than just Bulgaria itself.
    Bulgaria was obliged to shut down two 440-megawatt reactors at the Kozloduy power plant in line with its obligations to the European Union when it became a member on January 1, but is now trying to enlist support among the power-hungry Balkans to get the EU to re-think its decision.
    Stanishev said he believed the countries of the region should inform the EU about their electricity woes and added fellow EU member Greece might be affected during the summer.
    Berisha added Bulgaria was a major source of cheaper power to the Balkans now that its rapid economic growth needed increasing power.
    The EU's executive Commission demanded Sofia close the reactors -- once considered by experts to be one of the most dangerous nuclear plants in the world -- because it said its Cold War design could not be upgraded to the bloc's standards.
    But Bulgaria argues that reports from the International Atomic Energy Agency early this decade and other experts say upgrades made over the last 10 years have brought Kozloduy's safety levels up to EU standards.
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