Bulgaria's Finance Minister: The President Declared Himself a Defender of Gazprom against the National Interest - Shame!

"The national interest is the interest of the Republic of Bulgaria, not the Russian Federation or Gazprom". This is how Finance Minister Asen Vassilev commented on the president's request to the Constitutional Court, directed against the new taxes that the government introduced for the transfer of Russian natural gas.

"With this action, President Rumen Radev defined himself as a defender of Gazprom, contrary to the Bulgarian national interest. This is a shame for the presidential institution," Asen Vassilev said at a briefing.

He added that the president's request to the Constitutional Court will not stop the collection of the tax for the transfer of Russian gas. It has been collected since October 13, and the first receipts are expected on November 14.

Vassilev specified that Lukoil published a press release with the various taxes they paid.

"The only taxes from there that we have to look at are corporate tax and the solidarity contribution. 154 million in corporate tax was paid together with the solidarity contribution this year," Vassilev said.

He commented that they must be paid by October 31.

"If Lukoil fulfills these obligations, we expect nearly 400 million leva to be paid in by the end of the year," specified the Minister of Finance.