The president expressed surprise and indignation at the continuing project work by the government contrary to its public obligations assumed on June 8 to temporarily suspend the project, the presidential press service said.
Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski said earlier this month that Bulgaria would be able to convince the European Commission that its actions with regard to the South Stream gas pipeline project were justified and founded.
“South Stream will be. It’s not a Bulgarian project and I can only speak about what depends on us, not about the project as a whole, geopolitically,” he said.
The prime minister said Bulgaria had received the European Commission’s suggestions and had ordered all work on the project to be halted, primarily the signing of new contracts and agreements, until the two sides were sure that these suggestions were reasonable.
“We will try to convince the European Commission that we were acting correctly. We have enough arguments for that. But if we can’t do that, we will correct the actions the European Commission disapproved of. If we do not work out these issues now, we may face serious legal problems in the future,” he said.
Bulgaria is hoping to reap maximum benefits from the South Stream gas pipeline project, Minister of Economy and Energy Dragomir Stoynev said earlier.
“We should make maximum use of the South Stream project which is important for both Bulgaria and Europe and for which our country will not pay a single lev but we will create jobs, draw a profit and repay the loans for its construction through dividends,” the minister said.
Stoynev said South Stream “needs political support” and was the only project that could guarantee stable gas supplies. “Northern countries get gas from Nord Stream, and we should also have guaranteed supplies for southern countries from South Stream,” Stoynev said.
All participating countries have authorised the European Commission to conduct negotiations on the gas pipeline with Russia. “This is a strategic project for Europe and its construction should begin this year,” the minister said.
In his opinion, the best solution for Bulgaria would be having direct access to the gas supplier.
The contract to build the South Stream gas pipeline in Bulgaria is fully in line with European legislation, the Bulgarian Ministry of Economy and Energy said.
“The position of the ministry has been stated many times - the implementation of the South Stream project is important for Bulgaria both for diversifying gas supplies and from the economic point of view,” the ministry said.
“This is why during the talks with Russia in October 2013 Bulgaria, as an EU member state, could reach an agreement between the Bulgarian Energy Holding and Gazprom, under which the South Stream design company will make the gas pipeline capacity available for use by a third party as required by the Third Energy Package. This clearly shows compliance with our commitment to abide by European legislation,” the ministry said.
Stoynev said “the project will be implemented by European rules and will not violate European legislation” and stressed that “the work will be as transparent as possible”.
South Stream will be built across the Black Sea to South and Central European countries to diversify gas supplies to Europe and reduce the dependence on transit countries.
To build the onshore sections of the pipeline, Gazprom has signed agreements with Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Greece, Slovenia, Croatia, and Austria...............................http://en.itar-tass.com/economy/741865
22/7/14
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Turkey interested in Russia's new gas pipeline project (South Stream)
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