The European Commission will consider officially Bulgaria's arguments in favor 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 42.3 million tonnes 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.

Next week Bulgaria should submit its arguments in writing, so that the procedure of their consideration could be started.

Bulgaria's main motive behind these consultations involved that the Commission's decision on the reduction of allowances would result in an adverse effect on this country's economic growth and could lead to reconsidering its participation in the flexible mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol.
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.