The European Commission will consider officially Bulgaria’s arguments in favour of increasing the carbon dioxide (CO2) emission allowances for 2007 and the 2008-2012 trading period, the press centre of the Ministry of Environment and Water said on Thursday. On October 26 the European Commission took a decision to set the annual allocation for 2008-2012 at 42.3Mt of CO2 allowances, 37.4 per cent less than proposed in the National Allocation Plan.

The Thursday agreement was reached at technical consultations between Bulgaria and the European Commission held in Brussels. Apart from government representatives, the Bulgarian delegation also included representatives of the Bulgarian Industrial Association, the Confederation of Employers and Industrialists in Bulgaria, the Bulgarian Association of the Cement Industry and the Energy Institute.

Bulgaria’s Environment Minister Djevdet Chakurov lobbied support for Bulgaria’s position on the greenhouse emission allocations during his meetings in Singapore where he is attending a Europe-Asia Forum on Climate Change. He met with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and EU Commissioner for Trade Peter Mandelson and presented the Bulgarian stand, saying that this country would even take the matter to court if it has to.