The Bulgarian People’s Assembly (Parliament) adopted an amendment exempting the national gas operator Bulgartransgaz from collecting excise taxes on the transit of Russian gas. This was reported by the publication “Diary”.
Opposition parties in Bulgaria have criticized the introduction of a consumption tax of 20 levs (10 euros) for each megawatt-hour of Russian gas transit. His comments concerned the imperfection of the legislation, which burdened Bulgartransgaz with debts of more than 200 million levs (100 million euros).
Once the amendments are adopted, this money should be collected by the Internal Revenue Service (NRA) through the customs service, the publication states.
Before that, Bulgaria was known. introduced Tax on the transit of Russian gas through its territory to reduce the competitiveness of pipeline fuel from the Russian Federation compared to more expensive LNG.
Since October 13, Bulgaria has been imposing an excise duty of 10 euros per hour on the transit of Russian gas. The country’s Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov stated that this would increase competition in the gas market. However, the heads of foreign ministries of Hungary and Serbia expressed concern that such a decision by Sofia would threaten their countries’ energy security.
Previously European Commission announced about plans to phase out Russian gas by the end of the decade.