site.btaCC-DB Co-Chair Petkov: Abolishing Derogation for Russian Oil before March 2024 Poses Risks

Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) co-chair Kiril Petkov said after Thursday's meeting of the Security Council with the Council of Ministers that scrapping the derogation for Russian oil before March 1, 2024, poses risks. Petkov said that his coalition is ready to revise its initial proposal for the derogation to be abolished by March 15, with the new date to be no earlier than March 1.

Petkov said that taking action before March would pose huge and unjustified risks. He added: "This is not based on our opinion but on hearing from all the services and ministries. Regardless of the political rhetoric that will be expressed in the coming days, we will defend the interest of Bulgarian citizens. That is our only priority in this case. At the same time, we are in favour of stopping the money flows to Putin and his government as soon as possible, but this must not be done at the expense of unjustified risks to the Bulgarian people".

Asked why the representatives of GERB-UDF, as well as of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF), who support the already made proposal to abolish the derogation within three days, left before the end of the meeting, Petkov said: "It was important for me to stay until the end of the meeting to hear all the expert opinions before I have a final opinion on our political behaviour in parliament. In my opinion, every MP is obliged to get all the objective information before making a decision. By leaving early, they largely missed much of the information that was reported".

Petkov said that the date of March 1, 2024, was confirmed as the earliest possible date for the derogation to be lifted by the state's special representative at Lukoil. The argument for this was technological risks.

Petkov criticized GERB-UDF and the MRF for trying to set a "political trap" by alleging that CC-DB is coalescing with the Bulgarian Socialist Party and Vazrazhdane by voting the same as them in favour of continuing the derogation. He said: "If we are responsible to the Bulgarian public and meet the deadlines recommended by the experts, we will be accused of protecting Russian interests. If we are not responsible and the prices at the gas pumps rise for all Bulgarian citizens, our government risks being blamed for this. In other words, this trap is being used both ways so that we suffer political losses".