The recently introduced tax for the import and transit of Russian gas through Bulgaria will not negatively affect European consumers. It will only affect the profits of Gazprom.
This is what the ambassadors of the European Union countries heard from the Prime Minister Acad. Nikolay Denkov, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Maria Gabriel, Ministers of Finance and Energy Assen Vasilev and President Rumen Radev.
“The EU should not be dependent on Russian gas. It is not permissible to finance Russia’s war against Ukraine with European taxpayers’ money,” the academic said Denkov. He recalled that a lot of work has been done in recent years to enable Europe to get gas from various sources.
A day after his visit to Vienna, the Prime Minister again made the arguments for Bulgaria’s admission to the EU diplomats:
He said, “If it is not necessary to protect the borders between Bulgaria and Greece and Bulgaria and Romania, our country will direct much more effort and resource to our borders with Turkey and Serbia”.
The Prime Minister expressed hope that the right decision will be made in December at the regular meeting of the European Council in favour of Bulgarian and European citizens and businesses.
On the other hand, Gazprom is confident despite sanctions. The gas giant plans to boost exports to China and Hungary during the heating season, Aleksey Miller says.
CEO Aleksey Miller said that Russian energy giant Gazprom remains solid and stable despite being forced to reorient export flows and find new buyers because of Western sanctions.
Asked how the company sees its future, Miller said Gazprom is looking ahead with “absolute confidence” and stated that it is “reliably fulfilling all its obligations. ”
He clarified that Budapest will continue buying Russian gas despite the recent hike in transit fees done by neighbouring Bulgaria.