BUDAPEST, 17 Oct. The Minister of Foreign Affairs and External Economic Relations of Hungary, Péter Szijjártó, and the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Serbia, Sinisa Mali, said in a joint declaration that the decision of the Bulgarian authorities to raise the fee for the transit of Russian gas threatens the energy supply of the two countries.
On October 13, Bulgaria established an excise tax of 20 levs (10 euros) for each megawatt-hour of Russian gas transit. The new transit fee is approximately a fifth of the current TTF gas base price (€50 per megawatt hour). Typically, transit fees do not exceed 10% of the actual cost of gas. Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov said that Hungary and Serbia received an exception from sanctions on gas imports from the Russian Federation, and the introduced measure will increase competition in the gas market.
«»Bulgaria's decision to impose a duty on gas transit from Russia is a hostile move towards Hungary and Serbia. This new Bulgarian measure threatens security » is contrary to European solidarity, since it jeopardizes the energy security of an EU member state and an EU candidate country.»
«»Hungary and Serbia will coordinate their actions and will not leave this hostile Bulgarian decision unanswered,» the document says.