Bulgaria eyes interim water deal with Greece before summer

SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgarian Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov said on Thursday his government was seeking an interim agreement with Greece to end an impasse over an expired water deal that has sparked protests by Greek farmers.

Since 1964, under a World War Two reparations agreement between the two neighbours, water from Bulgaria's mountains has flowed freely along the Arda River into 50,000 acres (20,000 hectares) of the Evros plain in northern Greece.

The deal expired last July, alarming Greek farmers who depend on it to keep their crops alive. They set up tractor blockades near the Greek town of Kastanies in recent weeks demanding an immediate, long-term agreement.

Greece and Bulgaria's national electricity company NEK signed an interim agreement to ensure supplies between mid-July and September 2024.

In a heated parliamentary debate in Sofia on Thursday, amid opposition assertions that Bulgaria was giving away its water for free, Zhelyazkov said his government was seeking a short-term agreement for this summer.

"We will look for a temporary solution within a few months this year, so that we have the opportunity to negotiate a comprehensive agreement," he said, declining to elaborate on what such an agreement would entail.

Deputy Energy Minister Georgi Samandov defended last summer's agreement, saying water released to Greece via Bulgaria's Ivaylovgrad hydroelectric dam generated 30,000 megawatt hours of electricity for its own needs.

Under the reparations agreement, Bulgaria released 186 million cubic metres of water a year from hydroelectric dams to Evros, a poor region which depends heavily on agriculture.

The water was supplied every irrigation period from May to September. Greece has no functioning reservoirs in the area to retain water.

PRECARIOUS RESOURCE

The deal highlights how precarious water resources have become in the Mediterranean due to climate change. Greece recorded its hottest summer last year and, like elsewhere in southern Europe, saw months of little rainfall and drought.

Ahead of the negotiations, Bulgaria's agriculture ministry said the country was assessing its own water needs first.

Officials at the Greek energy and environment ministry, which is participating in the talks, were not immediately available to comment on Zhelyazkov's remarks. They have blamed the lack of progress on political instability in Bulgaria.

Zhelyazkov's centre-right GERB party won a snap election in October, the Balkan country's seventh in four years. His government was approved in January after months of coalition negotiations.

(Reporting by Georgi Slavov in Sofia and Karolina Tagaris in Athens; Editing by Gareth Jones)