Security Council meeting ended without agreement between WCC-DB and GERB on the derogation of Russian oil imports

The meeting of the Security Council at the Council of Ministers on November 16 ended without an agreement between the We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria and GERB on the derogation of the import of Russian oil. The focus of the meeting, convened by Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov, was an assessment of the consequences if the parliament accepts the proposal of Delyan Dobrev from GERB to abolish the derogation for Russian oil within three days (after the proposed changes to the Law on Control over the Implementation of Restrictive Measures in view of Russia's actions destabilizing the situation in Ukraine are promulgated in the Sate Gazette.)

Prime Minister Denkov convenes an extraordinary meeting of the Security Council of the Council of Ministers

GERB and MRF left the sitting earlier and said they remained on the position of removing the derogation within three days. According to the WCC-DB, the earliest date on which this could happen without risk to the state is 1 March 2024.

"The report, on the basis of which the decisions were taken in the National Assembly regarding the timing of the removal of the derogation, reports substantial progress in relation to the plan adopted in the report. In that report there were specific measures on which the government had to work. All of them have been worked on and the expected progress has been made. It confirmed that the optimal timelines for minimising risks were presented in the report. If we want there to be no risk for the refinery and for the fuel in Bulgaria, the deadlines set in this report must be respected," Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov said.

The Prime Minister said that in the event that the National Assembly decides to consider the bill submitted by GERB and MRF to accelerate the deadline for the abolition of the derogation to three days, given the available information - the minimum deadlines for phasing out the derogation are:

• After December 31, 2023 - no more than 50% imported Russian oil.
• After 31 January 2024 - no more than imported 25% Russian oil.
• From 1 March 2024 - all non-Russian oil.

"These decisions have been taken on the basis of expert discussion of opinions," the Prime Minister specified.

GERB left the meeting early because the SANS report showed that Lukoil was ready to switch to all non-Russian oil as early as yesterday, but after the proposal to cancel the derogation within three days was not adopted by the votes of WCC-DB, "Vazrazhdane" and BSP in the energy committee, the refinery has given up.

Shortly after them, the chair of the MRF parlimanetary group, Delyan Peevski, also left the meeting. He described the meeting as a useless waste of time. He stated that he had not heard any reasons in favour of keeping the derogation.

"It was seen that there will be a vote in Parliament and WCC said that they will assert their deadlines for March, which means that the new coalition will be born from Vazrazhdane, WCC and BSP. The “Putin” coalition is a fact - we will see how the votes will be and the Bulgarian government is actually commanded from Moscow," Peevski said.

Peevski also announced that he would file a report with the prosecutor's office and SANS against the Customs Agency. According to him, there is evidence that the customs have circumvented Russian sanctions. In his words, it is a "monstrous scam".

Kiril Petkov, the co-chairman of "We Continue the Change", pointed out that all the reports - from the Bulgarian services, the Ministry of Economy and the permanent representative of the state in Lukoil - made it clear that the minimum deadline for the abolition of the derogation was March 1, 2024.

"Anything before the first of March carries a real risk, according to the ministers, the services and the permanent representative, of price increases on the market and uncertainty of supply. From this point of view, we are ready to refine the date from the 15th to the 1st of March, but anything before this date would bring huge and unjustified risks," Petkov said.

He added that the extension of the derogation until March 1 would bring a total of 550 million BGN to the budget. - 400 million by the end of the year and another 150 million by March.

Energy Committee did not adopt proposal to cancel Lukoil's derogation within 3 days of promulgation of law changes

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