The European Commission this week released a preliminary decision that a Bulgarian energy firm and its subsidiaries were violating the EU’s competition rules, and announced in-depth investigations of projects in Spain and Belgium.
The Commission notified incumbent state-owned Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH) that it had reached a preliminary conclusion that the firm and its subsidiaries may be in violation of antitrust rules by blocking competitors’ access to gas infrastructure in the country. BEH is vertically integrated, supplying gas while its subsidiaries, Bulgargaz and Bulgartransgaz, own or control Bulgaria’s gas transmission network, the country’s only gas storage facility, and the main gas import pipeline, the Commission said.
