The European Commission will negotiate on Bulgaria’s behalf with Gazprom for Russian gas

Sofia, March 29 - Neftegaz.RU. The European Commission will negotiate with Gazprom on behalf of EU member states to buy Russian gas, the local Novinite has reported.
This agreement was reached at the end of the extraordinary European Council in Brussels, Prime Minister Kiril Petkov told reporters.

Negotiations will be conducted on behalf of those countries that wish, Bulgaria is among them, Petkov said.
He added:

• The commission is yet to analyze the idea of ​​a ceiling on gas prices
• This is completely different than a small Bulgaria with low consumption going to negotiate with a giant like Gazprom
• The fact that we will be able to negotiate prices together completely changes the game with who has how much market power in these negotiations
• Now we say that we want better conditions, lower prices
• This is especially important for Bulgaria, because, as we know, the contract with Gazprom expires this year
• In one case, we are a very small consumer compared to the whole of Europe
• Now that 75 % of Russia's gas is coming to the EU, they have nowhere to go
• We will have to negotiate on an equal footing
• This was a huge victory for the Bulgarian interest

The other important point is that the price of gas determines that of electricity on the European market, which is connected to Bulgaria.
By lowering the price of gas in good negotiations, the price of electricity falls and thus reduces inflation.

2 groups of countries have emerged at the European Council.
According to Petkov, some of them wanted a fixed price for gas so that there would be a clear ceiling.

Bulgaria has achieved another victory at the European Council, the Prime Minister added.
It has been decided to fill the EU's gas storage facilities, but there will also be a solidarity support mechanism.
Kiril Petkov said:

• Not all countries have storage facilities, those who don't have it can't just use the repositories of those who have it for free
• This allows countries with repositories such as Bulgaria to have a solidarity compensation mechanism, i.e. other countries to help and invest in filling
• In the beginning, it was only about the largest repositories.
• Then the «biggest» ones were replaced by the «significant ones», so our country also fell within the scope

Petkov met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and took a selfie with her, which he shared on Facebook and she boasted that she would soon come to Bulgaria to sign the National Plan for Reconstruction & Sustainability.

In reality, however, the signature is only the 1^st of a total of 4 steps for final approval of the plan.
Following is a recommendation from the EC, a decision of the Permanent Representatives and the Ministers of Economy and Finance.
However, Petkov assured that the real negotiation is over today.

According to him, many important things have been changed in the latest version of the plan.
Instead of a gas plant that will make Bulgaria even more dependent on Russian gas, the country will have a battery plant.
The obligatory closure of the Marishki Basin mine is not included.