Bulgarian President Georgy Parvanov slammed the country's new pro-Western Prime Minister Boyko Borisov on Tuesday over the government's planned review of several major Russia-backed energy deals.
In an article published on his official website, Parvanov accused the new government of "issuing many contradictory statements on the big energy projects … without studying the problems in advance."
"There is a deficit of competence in this government's energy policy," he added, attacking Borisov personally for being "obviously unprepared" for talks last week with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin."
Bulgaria's government is currently reviewing its participation in three Russia-backed projects that Parvanov has always strongly supported.
These include the South Stream pipeline that will pump Russian gas to Europe under the Black Sea, a project to build a 2,000-megawatt nuclear plant at Belene on the Danube, and an oil pipeline linking the Bulgarian port of Burgas to the Greek port of Alexandroupolis.
In his talks with Putin, Borisov defended his government's right to study the details of the deals before greenlighting them at a time of global crisis.
This led Parvanov to charge on Tuesday that Borisov was pursuing "an unbalanced, sluggish and badly-argued Bulgarian policy" that could lead to the projects bypassing Bulgaria.
"Every delay in the projects leads to rising costs, direct and indirect losses," he added.
Borisov however defended his performance in the talks with Putin, saying Parvanov was "jealous" of "the mutual trust and direct contact" that he had forged with his Russian counterpart.
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