Juncker Says Issues on South Stream Not Insurmountable

The legal issues on the implementation of the South Stream gas pipeline project are not insurmountable, the president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, said on Thursday.

"We should do what is best for Bulgaria and best for Europe," Juncker said in a statement following a meeting with Bulgarian prime minister Boyko Borisov. "South Stream can be built. Conditions have been clear since a long time."

"The ball is in the court of Russia," he added.

Russian president Vladimir Putin said on Monday Russia has abandoned plans to build the South Stream gas pipeline but is ready to build another pipeline system to Turkey instead. The construction of South Stream's offshore part cannot start as Bulgaria has not given its permission and Russia has been forced to reconsider its participation in the project, Putin further said.

The South Stream gas pipeline, spearheaded by Gazprom, was planned to carry gas from Russia to central and southern Europe via Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary and Slovenia. The total value of the project was estimated at 16 billion euro ($19.7 billion). Commercial operation of South Stream was scheduled to start by the end of 2015 with the pipeline reaching its full capacity of some 63 billion cubic metres per year by 2017.

The European Commission, however, has said it runs counter to EU law.

In June, the Bulgarian government said it halted the construction of the gas pipeline on its territory until it complies with EU legislation.

"We want energy to flow to Bulgaria and to the whole of Europe and we will not accept any blackmailing on energy matters, " Juncker also said. "We will be working closely together on the Juncker Investment Plan to ensure that energy interconnectors are a key element in the new wave of investments of the 315 billion euro we want to trigger."

Bulgaria imports almost all the natural gas it needs from Russia through a pipeline crossing the territories of Ukraine, Moldova and Romania.

Source: SeeNews