EU infringement procedure against Bulgaria will start due to Hungary?

Hungary has called on the European Commission to launch an infringement procedure against Bulgaria over recently introduced energy transit fees, the minister in charge of European affairs said on Friday.

János Boka said on Facebook that the new Bulgarian regulations imposed an energy fee on forwarded Russian gas arriving in Bulgaria, but the new rules had been approved without preliminary information or consultation with Hungary.

The fee, he said, seriously endangered the security of energy supplies in Hungary and the entire region while contravening European Union law because “it has the effect of a customs fee, which runs afoul of EU internal market directives”. The regulations also violated the rules of the Energy Charter agreement, he added.

Boka said he had asked the EC in writing to launch an infringement procedure against Bulgaria without delay and to call on Bulgaria to suspend the application of the fee while the procedure is under way.

If the EC does not fulfil the request, Hungary will go to the EU court before the end of this year, he added.

Read also:

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Minister: Gas supplies secure this winter

There is no risk as far as the security of gas supplies is concerned this winter, the minister for energy affairs said after a meeting of the operative group for energy emergency on Friday. Csaba Lantos said that during the 12 months up to the end of September, gas consumption totalled 8.3 billion cubic metres, a 20 percent drop from the same period of the previous year. Gas storage facilities are 98 percent full, and the 6.5 billion cubic metres of gas available covers two-thirds of annual demand, he added.

Calculations for the heating season show that back-up reserves need not be used even if consumption returns to the previous level, he said. Undisturbed supplies to domestic consumers can be guaranteed this winter even if supply routes drop out permanently, he added.

The operative group was also briefed about preparations for programmes to encourage the storage of green energy by domestic and industrial users, he said.