Bulgaria could reduce the transit fee on Giurgiu-Ruse bridge

The Bulgarian government will include on its weekly agenda the tax for crossing the bridge over the Danube between Giurgiu and Ruse and will take action to reduce it, a member of the Bulgarian Parliament from the ruling party said on Monday, quoted by Novinite.com site.

According to Plamen Nunev, Boyko Borisov’s cabinet will include the subject in its weekly agenda this Wednesday or next Wednesday.

Currently, the fee for cars for a round trip on the only operational bridge in the Bulgarian section of the Danube is 12 Euros.

The residents of the Ruse city have protested several times against the existence of this duty, hoping that it would be cancelled or substantially reduced.

‘When he last visited Romania, Prime Minister Boyko Borisov clearly said that Bulgaria would take measures to reduce the Danube bridge tax’. This was one of the first topics discussed during his visit to Bucharest.

‘Bulgaria expects Romania to take a stand, but our minister for regional development, Rosen Plevneliev, is working on an analysis of the situation and a proposal will soon be submitted to the Council of Ministers to reduce the bridge charge over the Danube’, Nunev stated on Monday.

The member of the Bulgarian Parliament stressed that if the government adopted the decision of the tax reduction, many Bulgarians would go to the Russian ministers in the coming weeks to announce the change.

The fee could reach 1.5-2 Euros

For cars, bridge fee in one direction is six Euros, light trucks have to pay 12 Euros, trucks under 12 tonnes, 18 Euros, and trucks over 12 tonnes, 25 Euros.

In December 2010, the Bulgarian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nikolai Mladenov, expressed his hope that the government would rapidly reduce the fee.

In September 2010, during a visit to Russia, the Bulgaria’s Minister of Finance, Simeon Djankov, said that the transit fee between Ruse and Giurgiu bridge for cars would be reduced to 1.5-2 Euros.

He revealed that the current Bulgarian government held talks with the Romanian side to reduce the tax three times.

Moreover, he said that the Bulgarian government addressed to the EU institutions, asking whether the tax could be reduced independently of the position of Romania.

In the 4th century, the Roman Emperor, Constantine the Great, built the highest bridge in the area at that time, 2.5 km long, six meters high, that was used between 328 and 355.

The current bridge was built in 1954 at the initiative of the Soviet dictator, Joseph Stalin, the Novinite site writes.

The Romanian authorities began to charge the same bridge fee in 2011.

Translated by: Andreea Negrea

MA Student, MTTLC, Bucharest University.