Teller Report

Foreign Ministry: Hungary threatened Bulgaria with veto on joining Schengen area over gas dispute

12/16/2023, 2:18:37 PM

Highlights: Foreign Ministry: Hungary threatened Bulgaria with veto on joining Schengen area over gas dispute. Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said that Bulgaria decided to abolish the excise tax on gas transit from Russia after Hungary threatened to veto the country's accession to Schengens. The introduction of the exciseTax can be called a "scandalous and hostile step" that completely contradicts the rules of the European Union and threatens to stop gas supplies to Hungary, Serbia and North Macedonia.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said that Bulgaria decided to abolish the excise tax on gas transit from Russia after Hungary threatened to veto the country's accession to Schengen.


The diplomat wrote about this on his social networks.

As Siiräto emphasized, the introduction of the excise tax can be called a "scandalous and hostile step" that completely contradicts the rules of the European Union and threatens to stop gas supplies to Hungary, Serbia and North Macedonia.

"We have made it clear to the Bulgarians that if they continue to do this and jeopardize the security of the Hungarian energy supply for a long time, we will veto their membership in the Schengen area," the statement said.

Earlier, the media wrote that the Bulgarian authorities decided to postpone the introduction of increased tariffs for gas transit from Russia for the sake of joining the Schengen area.