Hungary has threatened to block our application for joining Schengen if the government in our country does not remove the levy of BGN 20 per megawatt hour for Russian gas passing through Bulgaria. The result – only a day later it was postponed, and the decision entered into force retroactively, without collecting a single lev for the state treasury. The news was justified at the time as a temporary suspension until a European mechanism for the imposition of such a fee was created. On Wednesday, however, the deputies from the energy commission accepted the abolition of the transit fee.
As early as Monday, GERB leader Boyko Borisov mentioned that she could trip us up for Schengen. According to Financial Times sources, his statement was not mere speculation but pressure applied by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán during a meeting of member states in Brussels earlier this week. Later, Borisov even personally spoke with Viktor Orbán to get assurance of Hungary’s support for Bulgaria for Schengen. “We should not miss this chance because of the tax”, the GERB leader commented then.
Orban, considered Vladimir Putin’s closest partner in the EU and NATO, has previously criticized the Bulgarian tax, which affects one of the last remaining routes for Russian gas into the EU after the war in Ukraine began.
The ultimatum to Sofia is his latest move to undermine EU consensus ahead of a summit of the bloc’s leaders this week, at which he has also vowed to block financial and political support for Ukraine.
“This is our old friend Orban again,” commented a diplomat with direct knowledge of the situation. “It is difficult to understand exactly what Orbán wants from all this… The only conclusion is that he has decided that now is the time to block everything possible”, suggests another source familiar with the situation in Brussels.
The Hungarian government has not commented on whether it has imposed similar conditions on Bulgaria.
2023-12-13 18:50:00
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