Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and External Economic Relations Peter Szijjarto said that, most likely, the Bulgarian authorities, under the threat of a veto by the Hungarian side on Sofia’s accession to the Schengen zone, will cancel the excise tax on Russian energy carriers.
Peter Szijjarto said that the Bulgarian establishment is very likely to lift the excise tax on gas from Russia. According to the diplomat, Sofia was alarmed that Budapest announced its intention to veto Bulgaria’s accession to the Schengen zone if the initiative with Russian energy resources does not come to its original state.
The Hungarian foreign policy chief emphasised that the establishment of the excise tax was a “scandalous and hostile step”. The diplomat noted that this initiative of the Bulgarian side absolutely goes against the legal rules of the European Union and poses a threat to completely cut off the gas supply to Hungary, North Macedonia and Serbia, which was “mocked” by representatives of the Bulgarian administration.
“We have made it clear to the Bulgarians that if they continue this and jeopardise the security of the Hungarian energy supply for a long time, we will veto their membership of the Schengen area. And since this decision will be made next week, they have now suddenly started trying to repeal this law. If they really cancel this law, then, of course, we will also withdraw our veto decision,” – said Szijjártó, the video message was broadcast on Facebook.
Recall, earlier Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that he was proud of maintaining open channels of communication with Russian Federation. He noted that Hungary pursues an open policy, which differs from the dominant direction in the countries of Europe.