July 6 (SeeNews) - The Bulgarian parliament on Thursday authorised the country's energy minister to start negotiations on the potential sale to Ukraine of equipment that was intended for the Belene nuclear power plant, a project which was subsequently cancelled.
The decision was adopted in a 155-57 vote in the 240-seat National Assembly, as seen in a live parliamentary broadcast.
The draft for the decision was put forward by MPs from the GERB-UDF parliamentary group earlier this week. According to the draft document, the sale price should not be lower than 601.6 million euro ($655.3 million).
In 2016, after a ruling by the International Court of Arbitration in Geneva, Bulgaria's National Electricity Company (NEK) had to pay an adjusted 601.6 million euro ($664.1 million) indemnity including interest for the equipment already manufactured by Russia's Atomstroyexport for the Belene project, which the Bulgarian parliament decided to cancel in 2013.
($ = 0.9180 euro)