What does the future hold for Maritsi? Martin Vladimirov before FAKTI ᐉ News from Fakti.bg – Comments

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Coal-fired power plants produce the most expensive electricity in our country, they and the mines are under breath control. The only reason they are alive is that Bulgaria provides 1 billion euros of subsidies every year in the form of various schemes. What are our options… Martin Vladimirov from the Center for the Study of Democracy spoke to FAKTI.

– Mr. Vladimirov, why did the topic of coal plants become part of the agenda again? We saw the circus in the parliament, but what do they bring us – a show – yes, but a solution…

– Look, the topic of coal power plants has never left the agenda because it is the elephant in the room that no one wants to hear about. To close the coal plants, the structure of the state’s electricity industry must be changed. This will go through the elimination of country capture networks. Coal-fired power plants produce the most expensive electricity in our country, they and the mines are under breath control. The only reason they are alive is that Bulgaria provides 1 billion euros of subsidies every year in the form of various schemes.

– What is Maritsi without help from the state?

– Without subsidies, the mines have to close. In the Recovery and Stability Plan (RSP), the liberalization of the electricity market is set as a key reform. The European Commission is willing to grant a second tranche, not to mention the third and fourth, if there are no reforms. We should say that all projects and reforms must be completed by August 2026. And many projects under PVU have not even started yet. It is difficult for me to imagine the implementation of, for example, almost half a gigawatt of batteries by the middle of 2026, because contracts have not yet been concluded, tenders have not been announced, and there is no funding for these projects. Finally, it could happen that part of the projects will be financed not with European money, but with national money. This would undermine the stability of the budget as the deficit would increase, in fact this puts our eventual entry into the Eurozone at risk. The overall development of the Bulgarian economy, which cannot shift into a higher gear, is also suffering. We can no longer go up not with Western Europe, but with Central Europe, because countries like Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia have joined Western Europe as -already thanks to a rational economic policy of structural changes and attracting investment in industries with high surplus. value.

– Why is there no political will to find a way out of the situation, but it is a convenient topic for everyone to talk about?

– Because we are entering another election campaign. Plant closures are associated with job losses. It is not profitable for any political party to mention this fact. However, the real reason for the lack of action is not the vulnerable energy workers or consumers, but the attempt to maintain the status quo in the coal sector. And this is because the large financial resources of the state are directed to some companies that move around the power plants and mines, receiving public contracts or direct subsidies.

– You are talking about the fact that funding from the state to Maritsi is distributed in a way that is explained in detail through public procurement. So we understand…

– As long as we have a regulated market, taxpayers will pay for this state aid. The money we get from the sale of carbon quotas is BGN 2.4 billion per year – this is what the state earns. Instead of this money going into a bottomless pit financing wasteful capacity, it could be used wisely to invest in major projects and infrastructure projects and in reducing energy poverty . And now what – both we do not have a market, and we are losing public money, which we can use much more effectively, and we are serving these private interests.

– How long can we go on like this?

– In principle, according to the rules of the European Union for state aid from July 2025, we will not be able to provide such aid, because then the rules of the directive on industrial emissions will come into force. This means that if Bulgaria continues to delay the opening of the market, the EC will start criminal proceedings against us. It could even lead to a lawsuit against the country. The whole show can finish up to 2-3 years. But then we will pay a fine together, and the plants will stop from today to tomorrow, and without a real prospect for career development for those unprofessional workers.
And they can be provided by employment.

Politicians like to make up numbers, to add things up, but in reality it is around 10-15 thousand people who are directly employed in the sector.

At the same time, there is so much money – both European and national – for retraining, for early retirement and for finding new jobs for these workers in fast growing companies in the Stara region Zagora.
At the moment in Maritsite only 1/3 of the workers are involved. Since the load on the power plants – except for a few months of the year – is very low, there is no one at the mines to supply lignite coal. The problem is rather domestic, as salaries in the coal sector are very high. They are higher than the national average, and based on that high income, workers have bought property, paid off mortgages, and cutting their jobs earlier would put them in a financial position Sorry. But Bulgaria has so many financial and economic instruments to solve this problem to provide a real market for these workers.