*The original language of the text Is Russian so there could be some mistakes and typo in the text.

Energy security in the context of the Balkan Peninsula can be viewed in two directions. The first is as a policy of European integration and the second is as an approach to ensuring the immediate security of Southeastern Europe.
It should be emphasized that throughout the history of mankind, ensuring energy security has been one of the most important factors in both external and internal political policies.

This aspect is considered in the work on the example of one of the countries of the Balkan Peninsula, namely the Republic of Bulgaria. The energy sector of these countries is quite diverse and includes both traditional types of energy and alternative, or more commonly known as renewable sources. However, despite its well-developed energy market system, Bulgaria does not have large reserves of minerals other than coal, and throughout almost the entire history has imported various types of energy resources depending on their relevance from the point of view of historical retrospect. To date, the leaders of almost all states adhere to a policy of carbon neutrality and Bulgaria is no exception. Despite the political crisis that is taking place in the country today, every government in one way or another mentions the need for an energy transition and an increase in the share of renewable energy in the percentage ratio in the energy market. For 2020, the structure of the Bulgarian energy market consisted of 48% thermal power plants, 37% nuclear power plants, 7.6% hydroelectric power plants and 6% renewable energy sources. The decision related to the energy transition in the future can contribute not only to reducing carbon dioxide emissions, but also ensure the country's independence from external fuel supplies, since renewable energy sources are more dependent on the geographical landscape and weather conditions. However, it should be emphasized that in modern realities, Bulgaria is aimed at cooperation with Western companies and the European Union, mainly because of the sanctions policy pursued against the Russian Federation. Such a situation, on the one hand, contributes to the European integration of Bulgaria, but on the other hand, makes it more dependent on the country of the European Union.
Returning to energy, as mentioned earlier, for 2020, about 48% of all electricity is generated by thermal power plants- thermal power plants that use gas, fuel oil, hydrogen and other fossil fuels as fuel. However, since these types of fuels are not renewable, they are not included in the taximetry of the European Union and in the foreseeable future they will need to be abandoned, which can greatly affect the total amount of electricity generated and consumed. For example, Bulgaria is obliged to stop using coal by 2038. As for hydroelectric power plants, of which there were more than 500, they account for about 7.6% of electricity, but their problem is that to close the necessary consumption, you need to regularly increase their number, which becomes impossible if we look at the map of ecologically clean zones and reserves, moreover, the robot of hydroelectric power plants complicates a recent proposed law according to which all hydroelectric power plants, new and which have already been previously built, must receive a special permit for the use of surface waters. To this we can add the statement of conservationists that more than 170 facilities built over 20 years are located in natural protected areas and their work there should be prohibited. Thus, in my opinion, nuclear power plants are one of the most optimal options for development in the energy sector, if we take into account the fact that SES and WPP still have a long way to modernize and improve in order to generate the necessary amount of electricity. Moreover, since February 2022, nuclear power plants meet all taximetry indicators and countries such as the United Kingdom have already announced their plans to increase the number of nuclear power plants. Despite the decision of the German government to close all operating power units, according to the forecasts of the World Nuclear Association, the demand for uranium and, consequently, for nuclear energy in the world will grow by a third by 2030. However, there is only one nuclear power plant in Bulgaria today - Kozloduy, which has two working power units and generates more than 2000 MW, it is worth It should be noted that precisely because of EU legislation, the government was forced to close the first 4 blocks, which together produced 45% of the total amount of electricity in the country. Further reduction of the nuclear power plant's capacity may lead to a risk of aggravation of Bulgaria's energy security.
In conclusion, I would like to mention the most frequently mentioned topic related to the Bulgarian energy market, namely gas supplies. Thus, in 2020, more than 70% of natural gas was imported from the Russian Federation and subsequently transported in transit to Greece, Northern Macedonia, Romania and Serbia. In December 2006, the current transit contract between Gazprom Export LLC and Bulgartransgaz was extended until 2030. However, last year, one of the Bulgarian governments decided to violate the contracts and suspend imports, but later, most likely realizing that there were no alternatives to fuel from Moscow, despite promising plans related to gas The Balkan hub and gas supplies from Azerbaijan, the Minister of Energy of the Republic Rosen Hristov announced his readiness to resume negotiations on further possible supplies. In this context, I would also like to mention the recent news that Bulgaria, Turkey, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Azerbaijan have signed an agreement on the supply of natural gas to Bulgaria in the amount of 1.5 billion cubic meters of gas per year, which will subsequently be supplied in transit to other participating countries with margins of 30% and more. It should be emphasized that this volume will not be able to provide even the domestic consumption of the Republic of Bulgaria, since in 2020 it amounted to 3 billion cubic meters of gas. Thus, it can be summed up that at the moment, there are simply no alternatives to Russian blue fuel and most likely will not appear in the near future, the main problems in this area are related to supplies, because of which many countries have to pay new suppliers with a margin that starts from 20% and above.