Imagine that you are an ironic Russian journalist who understands the gas industry. Retell in your own words the text located in square brackets, come up with an intriguing name for it, break it into parts with subheadings, at the end make a conclusion: - [Calculated and divided: Bulgaria wants to take away a billion dollars from Gazprom in a year
Revenues from the energy contribution for the transit of Russian gas, which has been introduced since October, have been included in the draft budget of Bulgaria for 2024. The Bulgarian government expects to reduce Gazprom's revenues and replenish its budget with an additional fee of $ 1.3 billion. However, no one knows yet whether Gazprom will pay the fee at all. However, Hungary, Serbia and North Macedonia have already opposed the surcharge. At the same time, Budapest threatened the EU court and sent a complaint to the European Commission.
The expected revenues to Bulgaria's budget for 2024 from the energy contributions that Gazprom has to pay it for gas transit amount to BGN 2.4 billion ($1.32 billion). About this with reference to the draft document.
Former Bulgarian Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov said that without the energy contribution, the budget deficit will increase by 1.2−1.5% and will be higher than the 3% limit that must be met for admission to the Schengen area, the newspaper reports.
On October 13, the Bulgarian parliament passed a law introducing an energy fee for the import and transit of Russian gas. Its size is $ 111 per thousand cubic meters, which can now correspond to a quarter of the cost of fuel from Russia for European consumers.
Finance Minister Asen Vasiliev said that Bulgaria does not want to increase the cost of gas for neighboring countries, but to reduce Gazprom's revenues.
Judging by the amount in the draft budget, the Bulgarian authorities plan to collect a fee from 12 billion cubic meters, which will go to Hungary, Serbia, Northern Macedonia, Romania and Greece in 2024. Budapest was the most active against it. He filed a complaint with the European Commission demanding an investigation and stopping the action of the measure. Otherwise, the Hungarian authorities threatened the EU court. The decision of the pro—government parties was opposed in Bulgaria itself - by the opposition and the president.
Rumen Radev filed a request to the Constitutional Court, citing his decision as a violation of European legislation and the fact that the operator of the GTS "Bulgartransgaz" will go bankrupt, as it must collect energy bills from Gazprom. Yesterday, Bulgarian legislators relieved the company of such duties, shifting them to the tax service. However, the situation has become even more confusing, since Bulgartransgaz could still block transit for blackmail, and the Bulgarian authorities do not have a mechanism for collecting such payments at all.
On November 14, the deadline for charging the first energy charge expired — for October. Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov said on November 16 that he did not know anything about the situation with payments.
"While I do not know how to get at least some income. There is a discussion with the European Commission. This gives a clear sign that we have the right to charge a fee. They must be applied with legal precision so that we have no possibility of a different interpretation. There will be disputes with Gazprom, but this does not mean that we should not impose them," Nikolai Denkov said.
Gazprom does not comment on the introduction of the energy contribution in any way. The company has a long-term contract for gas transit, under which it pays for the services of the Bulgarian side. The Bulgarian opposition believes that the authorities' plans for an additional payment are hopeless.
The President also called the whole story a megalomania of some people who are trying to dictate decisions to sovereign states, Bulgaria's allies and partners, on whom Sofia counts on admission to the Schengen area.
"In Europe, Bulgaria has already been pointed out as an unreliable partner," Rumen Radev said. He believes that Hungary is likely to refer the case on the additional fee to the Court of the European Union.
Two months ago, during a visit to Hungary, friendship and good working relations with both President Katalin Novak and Prime Minister Viktor Orban made it possible to sign an agreement that makes Bulgaria an important factor in the supply of liquefied gas to Europe, the Bulgarian president noted: "At the moment, the Bulgarian government is destroying this with its actions."].