President refers to Constitutional Court regarding the charges on the import and transit of Russian gas through Bulgaria

President Rumen Radev referred to the Constitutional Court the provisions of the Law on Control of the Implementation of Restrictive Measures in View of Russia's Actions Destabilizing the Situation in Ukraine, which impose "energy levies" on the import of Russian natural gas to Bulgaria, as well as on its transmission to Europe through the territory of Bulgaria.

Bulgaria introduced a fee for transit of Russian gas through its territory

In his request to the Constitutional Court, the President states that a number of provisions enshrined in the Bulgarian Constitution have been violated. The contested texts are inconsistent with the principle of the legality of taxes and fees, as the legal nature of the newly introduced 'contribution' and whether it constitutes a tax, a fee or a duty is not clear from the outset, the Presidency said.

According to the Head of State, the principles of guaranteeing the right to property and free economic initiative have also been violated. Radev also believes that the law was adopted in contravention of the rules for exercising legislative initiative and the rule of law.

The letter to the Constitutional Court also notes that EU Member States are in a customs union with each other and a prohibition has been introduced not only on customs duties between Member States, but also on the unilateral imposition of "all charges having equivalent effect to a customs duty". At the same time, a Common Customs Tariff, which is determined by the Council on a proposal from the European Commission, applies to the relations of EU Member States with third countries. The EU sanctions regime also does not provide for Member States to impose additional restrictions on their own.

The Head of State has already expressed his position that the decision of the Bulgarian Parliament leads to an unacceptable risk of decapitalisation and bankruptcy of Bulgartransgaz, which is a company of key imporatnce in the structure of the Bulgarian energy sector, and this is an additional reason for him to exercise his power to refer the matter to the Constitutional Court, the presidential administration said.