The Minister of Economy promised that the new contribution that Lukoil must make to the FSES will be clear by tomorrow, February 15

The new contribution for Lukoil that the company has to make for January to the FSES (Energy System Security Fund) under the Law on Compensation of Transport Consumer Costs will be announced by February 15. This was announced by the Minister of Economy, Bogdan Bogdanov, during the joint meeting of the Energy and Economic Committee of the Parliament. The meeting itself, for the most part, passed in a high tone and sharp remarks were exchanged between PP-DB deputy Venko Sabrutev and the chairman of the energy commission Delyan Dobrev. The two accused each other of advocating for Lukoil.

At the beginning of the meeting, Economic Minister Bogdanov explained that the contribution for December that "Lukoil" must make is in the amount of BGN 69,904,372. At the moment, the amount that has been paid into the FSES is less by about BGN 25 million, the minister said. He also explained what formula was used to calculate the necessary contribution he indicated, as well as what the assumed price of Brent and the price ceiling was, including for the products entering under a special code (code 2710). The minister asked FSES to give their opinion.

For his part, the chairman of the Fund, Dian Chervenkondev, announced the events in chronological order. He stated that the company Lukoil was notified of the discrepancy between the amount of the contribution of BGN 45 million and the amount stipulated in the order of the Minister of Economy of almost BGN 70 million. Accordingly, Lukoil was invited in writing to pre-declare the contribution and to imported. So far this has not happened. No new declaration has been filed either, explained Chervenkondev, adding that the company has appealed the minister's order to the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC). According to him, on February 9, the Supreme Court ruled that they did not satisfy the request to suspend the preliminary proceedings of this order. According to the instructions of the National Agency for Revenue from the Fund, Lukoil was informed that on February 12, the administrative proceedings were launched, and the company has 14 days to pay the amount due according to the order of the Minister of Economy, based on the relevant legal act, but already with accrued interest. They are waiting for the corresponding 14-day period from FSES. According to the chairman of FSES, if Lukoil does not pay its debts by then, an act will be issued to establish the liabilities and hand the company over to the National Revenue Agency to take actions to collect these liabilities.

In response to a question, the representative of Lukoil, Alexander Velichkov, tried to explain the main thesis of the discrepancy in the calculations of the Ministry of Economy, regarding, in particular, the different reading of Pltts prices and the European Commission's guidelines for the ceiling of oil prices regarding the derogation. From the words of the economic minister, it became clear that they do not accept these grounds.

Meanwhile, the executive director of the National Revenue Agency Rumen Spetsov, who was also present at the meeting, stated that Lukoil has no obligations to the revenue agency, regardless of the fact that there are proceedings contested by both parties.

The Minister of Economy, Bogdan Bogdanov, also answered a question regarding the delay in the entry into force of the procedure for collecting this so-called fee. According to him, the main delay is due to the pending notifications from the European Commission.

The law came into force in November and we started implementing it from the first month, said Bogdanov. If the law had the same text in January and there were no notifications and it had entered into force, then Bulgarian citizens would have received larger amounts of compensation because the imported quantities of Russian oil during the period were significant, he said. Before that, Bogdanov, in response to a question, reminded that the smooth transition of the refinery from Russian oil to fuel of another origin is important for the government.

In conclusion, the Minister of Economy summarized that Bulgarian citizens can expect that the sums that will be collected for December, January and February and after the settlement of the dispute between the state and "Lukoil" will be paid once to 300,000 families, determined by the social ministry for transport assistance. The exact amount will be clear when we have generated all available resources in the Fund, which will transfer them to the Ministry of Social Affairs, Bogdanov specified. During the meeting, attention was also paid to the quality of the legislation of the deputies. The explanation for the haste with the debated bill was justified by the appearance of a gap, due to the sluggish work of the government and the lack of legislative initiative.