The director of the Serbian gas company Srbijagas, Dusan Bajatovic, said here on Thursday that Bulgaria's decision to impose a fee on the import and transit of Russian gas is a political one, while Serbia and Hungary are the ones left having to pay its price, Tanjug reported. Bajatovic labelled the decision a discriminatory measure with no legal basis.
The director of Srbijagas noted that Serbia is in contact with Hungary and Bulgaria, and that the governments of Serbia and Hungary had issued a joint statement describing Bulgaria's decision as a hostile act.
Bajatovic said: "We have two things here. First, this is some kind of punishment for Russia because of the war in Ukraine. It should be noted, however, that although it was not adopted by the European Commission, Bulgaria did adopt it as a law. Second, this is some kind of promotion of liquefied natural gas, and it is absolutely a political measure. It is a discriminatory measure on the market".
According to Bajatovic, the measure would punish not only Serbia and Hungary but also some consumers in Austria and Slovakia. He said that so far, the price of gas has been under EUR 300 at the border with Serbia. If the additional EUR 100 is added, the price of gas will rise by 30%, which begs the question of who will pay for the increase.
Bajatovic believes that the measure is the outcome of a political game played by the US and the European Commission. He added: "In any case, Hungary and Serbia reacted. Hungary is a member of the EU and, given that this is a political decision, I expect reactions. I don't know what the decision will be at this point. Will paying these fees affect the price of gas? Yes. Whether it will affect the end users depends on the judgement of the Serbian government. It [the Serbian government] will not only look at the price of gas, but also at economic growth, inflation and whether the public will be able to pay".
Asked by Tanjug whether the measure would have an impact on the Bulgaria-Serbia gas link project, which is under construction, Bajatovic said it would not. "The work is going normally. I think on October 26, the mechanical part of the project will be fully completed. At the moment, tests of gas purity are carried out. The pipeline will be completed by the end of October, as planned. We may be a little late with the documentation, but this will not affect the entire project. We and our colleagues from Bulgaria are expecting to start the gas flow on November 1".
Bulgaria introduced the BGN 20/MWh fee for Russian gas transit as of October 13, 2023. On October 16, Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov said that Bulgaria has the right to impose a fee on the import and transit of Russian gas.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said that the fee poses a serious problem for his country, and he will discuss the matter with his Bulgarian counterpart Rumen Radev. The Financial Times quoted Bulgarian Minister of Finance Assen Vassilev as saying that the purpose of introducing the fee was not to make gas more expensive for consumers in Hungary and Serbia, but to make it less profitable for Gazprom to supply gas through Bulgaria.
/YV/
news.modal.text
