site.btaSerbian Parliament Adopts 2026 State Budget, Allocates RSD 164 Bln to Ensure Energy Security amid NIS Sanctions Crisis

The Serbian Parliament adopted the 2026 State Budget, local media reported on Wednesday. At the proposal of MPs from the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), an amendment to the budget for next year was adopted, allocating RSD 164 billion (around EUR 1.4 billion) to ensure “the country’s energy security and stability.”

For this purpose, RSD 600 million (around EUR 5.12 million) had initially been planned, the Serbian service of Radio Free Europe reported.

The amendment, announced earlier by Serbian National Assembly President Ana Brnabić, is said to anticipate circumstances under which Serbia would have to take control of the national oil company NIS.

Since October 9, NIS has been under US sanctions due to its majority Russian ownership, and on December 2 the company announced that it had begun shutting down its production facilities at the refinery in the northern Serbian city of Pančevo due to a shortage of crude oil.

At its meeting on November 25, the Serbian government decided to give Russia 50 days to find a buyer for its stake.

If the sale is not completed within this period, the Serbian State will offer the Russian side “the highest possible price” and will take over the management of NIS.

At the beginning of January, the US announced that due to the war in Ukraine and the “secondary risk,” it would impose sanctions on Serbia’s only oil company, NIS, which is majority-owned by the Russian oil giant Gazprom. Washington demanded the complete withdrawal of Russian capital from the company, but only at the end of November did the Russian side announce that it was ready to sell its stake.

A few days ago, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán confirmed that the Hungarian company MOL is a candidate to purchase Russian assets in NIS, but did not specify whether he meant the entire Russian-owned share.

The Serbian state holds 29.9% of NIS shares, while the main owner remains Gazprom Neft with 44.9%. At the end of September, the St Petersburg-based company Intelligence, connected to Gazprom, acquired the 11.3% stake of the parent company Gazprom.

NIS was placed under US sanctions on January 10, which came into force on October 9 after being postponed eight times.