Bulgaria has used only 11% of the capacity under the contract with "Botas", i.e. for every 100 leva paid, only 11 leva were used for actual gas transmission through the network. This was announced by the Minister of Energy Zhecho Stankov at a briefing for journalists.
The minister recalled that the Bulgarian state pays over 1 million leva per day to the Turkish company and the ministry is looking for any opportunities to use it, including buying cheaper gas so that the high price for transmission can be neutralized.
„We have seen this movie many times - since the 90s. But this guy specifically started with the "Belene" project. There we are talking about hundreds of millions - missing, disappeared, without an invoice, etc., commented on the show "Face to Face" Ruslan Stefanov - chief economist at the Center for the Study of Democracy.
“If we look at the specific deal, there are at least three very serious factors that contribute to this corrupt political consideration. This is the perfect storm. Energy is geopolitically dependent on a single country - Russia, which has declared us enemies. On the other hand, in a country - inside the country there is political division and atomization, which leads to constant accusations of corruption - there were no innocents left. The third thing is the lack of strategy,“ Ruslan Stefanov pointed out.
According to him, there are 18 billion in expenses that have remained unrealized. And the contract for "Botas" could be positive if Bulgaria gives up Russian gas.
"We continue to finance the daily bombing of Ukraine. This is inexplicable madness. There is no other country that continues to import Russian gas through pipelines," Ruslan Stefanov pointed out.