site.btaIndustry Cannot Be Fully Compensated for High Energy Prices

Meeting with representatives of unions and employer organizations here Wednesday, Energy Minister Alexander Nikolov said that the industry cannot be fully compensated for the high energy prices, Bulgarian Industrial Association (BIA) Managing Board Chair Dobri Mitrev told reporters a day after the meeting.

The topic of the natural gas price and potential compensations for the industry was not on the agenda.

"We stand behind our demands and we cannot back down," Mitrev said. He believes that a resolution involving compensations for the high energy prices can be reached, but it would require actions from the Prime Minister, the Government, and the Council of Ministers.

The industry insists on extending the compensations mechanism, which was stopped at the end of April, and keeping it for as long as it is necessary.

Employers also insist that the difference between the price of gas supplied by brokers now and the price under the long-term agreement with Gazprom, be covered by the state budget; that a mechanism be set in place to guarantee affordable energy, gas, and petrochemical products; that programmes be adopted to take control of the inflationary processes and restore the supply chains.

If these are not met, the employers will demand the Government's resignation.

The Bulgarian Industrial Capital Association, BIA, the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Confederation of Employers and Industrialists in Bulgaria, and the Union for Private Economic Enterprise said on Wednesday that they will stage nationwide protests on May 18 in support of secure and affordable energy and emphasized that their actions are not politically charged.