Bulgaria's National Assembly on Thursday voted, 94-55 with 61 abstentions, to reject a bill moved by Delyan Dobrev MP of GERB-UDF that would revoke an exception to a EU-imposed ban on processing oil originating in Russia within three days.
After the vote, the parliamentary groups of GERB-UDF and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms left the debating chamber.
In 2022, the European Commission granted Bulgaria a derogation from the EU embargo on oil imports from Russia due to the country's specific geographic exposure.
Under an act amending and supplementing the same law - the Act on Control over the Application of the Restrictive Measures in View of Russia's Actions Destabilizing the Situation in Ukraine, effective October 13, 2023, the derogation is to be conclusively revoked on October 1, 2024 (three months ahead of the December 31, 2024 deadline), and during that period the Russian-controlled Lukoil Neftochim refinery is obliged to phase out oil originating in Russia from not more than 80% until December 31, 2023 to not more than 25% until September 30, 2024.
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