Bulgaria caves to Hungarian pressure, scraps planned tariff on Russian gas transit

The National Assembly of Bulgaria on Monday agreed to cancel the additional fee for the transit of Russian gas, local outlet BNR writes.

The Bulgarian parliament voted for the additional levy two months ago, in October. Now the law has been changed again to postpone it.

The amount of the fee was supposed to be 20 leva (about 10.2 euros) per MWh. The Bulgarian tax affected the interests of Serbia, which is not a member of the European Union, as well as some other countries, including Hungary. The Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs threatened to block Bulgaria's accession to Schengen unless it cancels the gas levy.

At the same time, Bulgarian MPs supported the draft law on ending the use of Russian oil at the Lukoil Neftohim Burgas oil refinery. It obliges Lukoil to abandon the use of Russian oil from March 1, and the export of oil products made from it will be prohibited from January 1.

The European Commission, during the adoption of one of the previous packages of sanctions against Russia, allowed Bulgaria as an exception to fulfill contracts for the purchase, import and transfer of Russian oil delivered by sea until the end of 2024. But the country decided to abandon Russian oil.

Both decisions were voted in the Bulgarian parliament without discussion, they were supported by 144 MPs.

On October 13, the Bulgarian parliament introduced an additional fee for the transit of Russian gas. Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov explained that the tax introduced by Bulgaria creates an opportunity for competition between liquefied natural gas, which comes from different sources, and gas from Russia.

Serbia, as well as Hungary, North Macedonia and Austria, receive all of their Russian gas through the Bulgarian branch of the TurkStream pipeline.