SOFIA (Bulgaria), May 28 (SeeNews) – European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said Brussels would impose infringements on Bulgaria over the construction of the South Stream gas pipeline which does not comply with EU laws, internet portal EurActiv reported on Wednesday.
Some of the agreements that are being negotiated on South Stream are in conflict with EU rules, EurActiv quoted Barroso as saying after a meeting with Bulgaria’s prime minister Plamen Oresharski.
“In fact today I informed the [Bulgarian] prime minister of the intentions of the European Commission. We have to make sure that the rules of the internal market are respected, not only because it’s our duty, but because the Bulgarian energy security and European energy security would be at risk if these rules are not observed,” Barroso was quoted as saying.
In April, the Bulgarian parliament adopted in principle a bill aiming to exclude the Bulgarian offshore section of the planned South Stream gas pipeline from the scope of the EU's Third Energy Package, which regulates third-party access to gas transport infrastructure in the EU. Under the adopted bill, the 24-kilometre Bulgarian offshore section of the South Stream project would be regarded as a “sea gas pipeline” and would have the legal status of a facility which does not step onto EU territory. This prompted the European Commission (EC) to launch an EU Pilot procedure against Bulgaria over the amendments. The procedure does not involve sanctions, instead its outcome will determine potential future measures on the part of the EC.
Also in April European energy commissioner Guenther Oettinger's spokesperson said, as quoted by news portal EurActiv, that Brussels is concerned about the broader Bulgarian Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) with Russia on South Stream, which the Commission considers in conflict with EU law, like other IGAs on South Stream. IGAs have been signed with Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Greece, Slovenia, Croatia and Austria in order to implement South Stream's onshore section. All EU member states involved in the South Stream project have authorised European energy commissioner Oettinger to hold talks with Russia on the construction of the gas pipeline.
Bulgaria's economy minister Dragomir Stoynev, however, has repeatedly said that the construction of the local section of the pipeline will start this year, as planned, and that the recent amendments to the country's legislation in no way contravene EU law.
On Tuesday South Stream Bulgaria, a 50/50 joint venture of Russia's Gazprom and the state-run Bulgarian Energy Holding, said it has picked a consortium made up of Russia's Stroytransgaz and Bulgaria's Gazproekt Yug to build the Bulgarian section of the South Stream gas pipeline.
South Stream, spearheaded by Gazprom, aims to diversify gas routes within the European Union and to provide stable gas supplies from Russia to central and southern Europe. The onshore pipeline will connect Varna on the Black Sea to northern Italy, via Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary and Slovenia. The total value of the project is estimated at some 16 billion euro.
South Stream is planned to go live in Bulgaria in the third quarter of 2015 with an initial annual capacity of 15.85 billion cubic metres (bcm). By 2017, the pipeline will reach its full capacity of some 63 bcm per year.
($=0.7332 euro)