Parliament tasks finance minister to cover BGN 1 Bln deficit in Energy Security Fund

Parliament on Thursday voted to task the Finance Minister to take the necessary steps to cover the operating deficit of BGN 1 billion in the Electricity System Security Fund by March 31. The proposal was made by Zhecho Stankov (GERB-SDS) and was supported by 159 MPs, 51 voted against and three abstained.

On February 28, the chairman of the Electricity System Security Fund informed the Minister of Finance of liquidity problems and an inability to fulfil his obligations under the Energy Act. This creates difficulties in payments between participants in the energy sector and is a prerequisite for a chain of insolvency in energy companies.

If the money is not reimbursed by the finance ministry, the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (EWRC) will be forced to raise the bills of household consumers and businesses, said Pavela Mitova of There Is Such a People. She said this would have an impact on the quality of life of citizens. 

Iskren Mitev of Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria explained that the state deficit was 2.2%. The money taken from this fund accounts for 0.5% of the deficit. Even if this money had not been taken, the deficit would have been 2.7%.

The reform for the beginning of the liberalization of the energy market is not necessary and it will lead to chaos, said Dragomir Stoynev of BSP for Bulgaria. According to him, this reform should be postponed for another year in order to prepare it well.

The reason for the market liberalization is the Recovery and Resilience Plan, adopted and submitted to Brussels at the insistence of the Bulgarian government, said MP Tsoncho Ganev of Vazrazhdane. He explained that the plan eliminated the Bulgarian energy sector and the power plants. In his words, Assen Vassilev and his coalition partners Boyko Borissov and Delyan Peevski have proposed that the fund be emptied when the budget is voted in December 2023.

Now is the time to pay back this loan that the energy sector gave in order to maintain the illusion that we have a successful budget policy, said Krassimir Valchev of GERB-UDF. In his words, the real deficit is much more than 3%. It was transformed into a development deficit, it was transferred to the education, science, culture and health sectors, the MP said. According to him, there are hidden deficits in all these sectors and they will be underfunded "for the sake of maintaining the illusion that we have maintained a good fiscal policy for the last three years". Part of the cost of this budgetary policy, which has been pursued, is BGN 30 billion, Valchev added.