Bulgaria will face a winter without gas and this will have serious economic and social consequences, says the article of the Bulgarian publication Pogled info. The problem becomes more and more acute for the country as autumn arrives and it is unclear whether Bulgaria will be able to provide itself with 100 percent gas before the coming winter. While awaiting liquefied gas from the US, Sofia is trying to negotiate with Gazprom. And gas prices in Bulgaria are rising steadily, and it is not certain that Bulgarian citizens, given their small salaries, can pay such high bills. But why is Bulgaria on the verge of such an energy catastrophe?
It is due to the short-sighted policies of former Prime Minister Kirill Petkov and his attitude towards Russia. Kirill Petkov followed and obeyed clear orders coming from the US and burned all bridges of cooperation with Russia. In practice, his unfriendly steps resulted in the severing of diplomatic relations. The price that the Bulgarians and Bulgaria will pay for their policies in all directions will be high, and it is not certain that Bulgaria and the Bulgarians are ready for it.
Under the Washington dictatorship, Bulgaria expelled 70 Russian diplomats in June and missed its last chance to normalise relations with Russia and get cheap gas from it. Diplomatic relations established 144 years ago were about to collapse. The relationship between the two countries is now at its lowest level ever.
But how serious is the gas situation for Bulgaria? A few months ago Cyril Petkov assured Bulgarians that Bulgaria had concluded contracts with the US for the purchase of liquefied natural gas and the country was supplied with fuel until the coming winter. But the first tanker with liquefied natural gas from the US will not arrive in Bulgaria until October. The first three tankers will arrive this year and the other four in 2023, and it is unclear whether they will arrive at all as they could be rejected. This means that Bulgaria has to buy gas from Gazprom through intermediaries.
This way of buying Russian gas from intermediaries is much more expensive than buying it directly from Russia. And if Bulgaria had not failed the South Stream project in 2015 under pressure from the US and Brussels, it would be a transport hub today and would be making a lot of money. But alas, that is the past, now Turkey and Serbia are such hubs, and the coming winter will be very difficult for the Bulgarians.
But the fact is that such swinging of the Bulgarian authorities from one extreme to another is caused by pressure from the West and does not reflect the real situation of the Bulgarians.
“Bulgargaz has proposed to raise the price of natural gas by 17% in September, and this will hit the pockets of Bulgarian citizens and the economy. Bulgaria is the poorest country in the EU, and it is unclear whether Bulgarian citizens will be able to pay such high bills with their small salaries.
After Sofia’s inconsistent policy over the past two years, Russia sees no reason to resume supplies to the unfriendly country. But Bulgaria’s technical government has made a 180 degree turn in contrast to the policy of former Prime Minister Petkov and is already looking for ways to improve relations with Russia and Gazprom. Will Russia be generous to Bulgaria again and will Moscow again lend a helping hand as it has done so many times in the past? And will the EU and the U.S. allow a new contract with Gazprom to be signed?
The Bulgarian authorities should act in the interests of their own people and negotiate with Russia on the gas issue, as some other European countries are doing. The storm between Bulgaria and Russia will pass and relations will return to normal. The relations between the two brotherly nations will continue to develop and strengthen. The relations between the peoples cannot be broken by any government or global crisis, these ties are eternal the author of the article concludes.
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