site.btaGERB, New Republic Want Deadline Extension for Bulgaria's Position on Gazprom's Proposals

GERB, New Republic Want Deadline Extension for Bulgaria's Position on Gazprom's Proposals

Sofia, April 20 (BTA) - GERB and New Republic want urgent actions to be taken for extending the deadline for Bulgaria's position on Gazprom's proposals in relation to the European Commission's anti-trust case against the Russian company, former energy minister and GERB MP Temenouzhka Petkova and Traicho Traikov of New Republic said here in Parliament on Thursday.

GERB leader Boyko Borissov and the leadership of New Republic have agreed on this at a meeting earlier in the day. Bulgaria's deadline for presenting its position to the EC is May 4, but so far the caretaker Cabinet has not presented any official information about what it is doing and how far they are in preparing the position. This is why GERB believe that caretaker Prime Minister Ognyan Gerdjikov and Energy Minister Nikolay Pavlov must be asked to shed light on the matter in Parliament.

According to Petkova, GERB is ready to participate and discuss the formula for setting the price of natural gas. She believes that the Commission allows an extension of the deadline for submitting the position. The fact that a regular government is to be formed soon could be used as an additional argument. If the date cannot be changed after all, then plan B would be to resort to a constructive dialogue between GERB and the caretaker Cabinet, with the participation of experts and political forces not represented in Parliament, for drafting the document.

Traikov said he believes that GERB has the opportunity to help extend the deadline, so that a solid position can be drafted, which can be legally feasible and correspond to Bulgaria's interests. He noted that he and Borissov have discussed the price of fuels and tax warehouses. According to Traikov, the future prime minister has expressed desire to seek solutions that would benefit Bulgarian consumers.