site.btaUPDATED PM Reaffirms There Is no Reason for Fuel Panic Buying, Blames Youth Chapter of Formerly Ruling GERB

Prime Minister Kiril Petkov reaffirmed here Friday that there is no reason for fuel panic buying and said that people linked to the youth chapter of the formerly ruling GERB party were behind the panic buying earlier in the week. The Prime Minister was speaking to the press after a meeting with the members of the Bulgarian Petroleum and Gas Association. What started the panic buying on Wednesday were photos of several small gas stations with cars lining up for fuel, that went viral, and we have seen that the people who organized that are connected with the GERB youth organization, said Petkov.

He said that people's fear of the war was taken advantage of to create panic for several hours.

Both Petkov and the association of large gas stations have repeatedly said in the past couple of days, that Bulgaria has enough fuel stock, that while prices are trending up globally, there is no reason to expect them to go through the roof overnight, and that there is no reason for panic buying.

The Prime Minister said that Bulgaria is experiencing no shortage of fuel. "What is more, we have large stocks across the system. There are no problems along the fuel supply chain," he added.

He said that the government and the Petroleum and Gas Association agreed that any time they notice such behaviour - hybrid attacks, attempts to undermine the political system or to win political dividends at the expense of people lining up to buy something - they will respond with a coordinated response and inform the population that somebody is trying to manipulate them. 

Petkov urged Bulgarian people to listen to what the government is telling them.

What he had to tell them now was that "we have fuel everywhere, we have sufficient stock and tankers with more supplies are on their way to the fuel storage facilities". 

Asked about the higher-than-average prices on some gas stations on Wednesday, he said that some gas stations had low stocks and chose to raise their prices rather than close down. It was photos of such gas stations that went viral and started the panic buying, he explained.

He also said that the Council of Ministers will become a point of contact to the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO). This way, Cabinet's alerts will be submitted directly to EPPO without intermediaries. According to the Prime Minister, this new relationship between the two institutions will allow for an exceptionally speedy submission of alerts about corruption and EU funds violations. 

The meeting of the Prime Minister with the Petroleum and Gas Association was attended by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Assen Vassilev, Deputy Prime Minister for Economy and Industry and Economy and Industry Minister Korneliya Ninova and Energy Minister Alexander Nikolov.