Recently the Bulgarian caretaker minister of agriculture demanded an extraordinary meeting of the European Agriculture and Fisheries Council for agreeing a common EU position on Russia’s retaliatory ban on imports of fruit, vegetables, meat and meat products, fish and other foods from the countries of the Bloc. Shortly afterwards, the caretaker foreign minister voiced concerns to Kiev’s ambassador in Sofia over Ukraine’s plans to carry out counter-sanctions against Russia.

Indeed, Sofia has a good reason to worry. The Russian embargo affects directly the business of Bulgarian producers of fresh fruit, fish, white cheese and vegetables, especially tomatoes. Their exports to Russia in 2013 came to 53.4 million euro, or 9.3% of the sum total of Bulgarian exports to that country.

Ukraine’s plans to impose sanctions against Russia imply cutting off Russian natural gas transiting via its territory that accounts for about 90% of Bulgaria’s consumption. As tensions between Russia and Ukraine have soared, Bulgaria has increased supplies to its gas storage facility at Chiren. However, with cut off supplies via Ukraine, the facility will be able to cover this country’s needs for only three to four months. Bulgaria has got no reverse gas connections with its neighbors and is once again faced with the risk of becoming a hostage of the Russia-Ukraine disputes, the way it already happened in 2009.

Sofia’s worries are shared by many EU countries but this is hardly any consolation. The Czech Republic, Poland, Austria, Finland, Belgium and Estonia have joined Sofia’s demand for an extraordinary discussion of the Russian counter-sanctions, however for the time being, the European Commission has not found a way to compensate the losses incurred by producers. Both the Commission and Sofia have tried to persuade Ukraine not to carry out extreme measures against Russia but the answers from Kiev tend to be rather evasive and give no grounds for optimism. It is quite clear that the exchange of sanctions and counter-sanctions cannot possibly provide any solutions. It is so far unclear however how far they will go and how dire the consequences will be.

English Daniela Konstantinova