GERB-SDS has tabled an emergency bill in parliament to bring down high fuel prices. MP Krasimir Terziev told the chamber that the bill would cut the excise duty on petrol and diesel for a limited time. It would also check whether VAT on motor fuel can be cut, including to 9%.

The bill has not reached the floor today. A committee has not yet given its opinion, and the 15-day period set by the rules of procedure has not run out.

The first step is for Bulgaria to ask the European Commission for permission to apply a lower excise duty for a limited time, as Croatia has already done. Once the bill passes, the finance minister must send a reasoned request to the Commission through the Council of Ministers within 7 days. The request would seek excise rates below the EU minimum levels for a limited time.

The second step is to find out whether VAT on motor fuel can be cut for a limited time, including to 9%. The relief would be tracked constantly and in public to see whether it reaches drivers.

The bill puts the savings at about €20 to €21 for a 50-litre fill-up if the lower excise duty is combined with 9% VAT. At the pump, a litre would cost 40 euro cents less. The figures hold only if the full cut is passed on in the final price.

Terziev said the proposal is not a slogan, or a promise that the state can set the price at every petrol station with one signature. He said it does not break EU law, because Bulgaria is formally asking the Commission for its position and will act only if the law allows. The relief is not permanent, he said: the steps are temporary, limited and reversible, and apply under extraordinary price pressure. If another EU member state can ask for and get a temporary exemption on excise duty, Bulgaria can too, he said.

Terziev called on the committees to look at the proposal as fast as possible, and on the government to act. GERB-SDS respects the rules of procedure, he said, but prices do not wait for procedure. "Inflation doesn't wait for a committee, people's bills don't wait 15 days," he said.

The MP said the 15-day period must not turn into 15 days of doing nothing, and Bulgarian business cannot put its costs on hold. "While we count the days of procedure, people count the money left in their pockets after every fill-up," Terziev said.

The group will press for the bill to go through the relevant committees and, once the deadlines pass, to reach the floor, where every MP can state a position.

Follow-up: Parliament's economy committee rejects GERB-SDS bill for cheaper fuel