BRUSSELS--The leaders of Bulgaria and the European Commission
made a vocal bid Thursday for the continued construction of a
pipeline transporting Russian gas to southeastern Europe, despite
an announcement by Moscow that the project had been dropped.
Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Union's
executive arm, said issues related to the South Stream project "are
not insurmountable."
"South Stream can be built. The conditions have been known for
some time, " he added, following a meeting with Bulgarian Prime
Minister Boyko Borisov.
The meeting came after Russian President Vladimir Putin said
earlier this week that Moscow would abandon South Steam, because it
couldn't reach agreement on the terms of the project with Bulgaria
and the EU.
The European Commission has said it would block any deal on
South Stream that would leave control over both the pipeline and
its capacity in the hands of Russian state-owned energy company OAO
Gazprom.
Mr. Borisov said he hadn't received official notification on the
termination of South Stream and that he believed Russian plans for
an alternative pipeline through Turkey were "premature."
"There are a lot of people against the suspension of this
project," Mr. Borisov said, pointing to significant costs Bulgaria
and others have already incurred.
Mr. Borisov said solutions for bringing South Stream in line
with EU law could be found as early as next week, at a meeting
between the energy ministers of the EU countries involved in the
project.
However, both Messrs. Borisov and Juncker stressed that any deal
had to be in line with EU rules, which require pipelines to also be
open for gas from suppliers other than their owners to improve
competition. The Russians "also have to think and revise their
attitude" to the European rules, Mr. Borisov said.
Countries in the EU's southeast are keen on developing a
gas-supply route that bypasses Ukraine, after experiencing severe
shortages following earlier disputes between Kiev and Moscow. South
Stream was supposed to transport gas underneath the Black Sea to
Bulgaria, from where it could be shipped to other EU countries
relying on Russian energy.
But Mr. Juncker warned Russia that the EU and its members
wouldn't let their dependence on Russian gas push them to abandon
their own principles. "I'm not accepting the simple and easy idea
that Bulgaria can be blackmailed as far as these energy relations
are concerned," he said.
Relations between Brussels and Moscow are at a low, with each
side restricting trade and travel over the conflict in Ukraine. At
the same time, the EU is working to cut its overall dependence on
Russian energy and has sped up the constructing of pipelines
connecting different parts of the continent as well as the buildup
of alternative sources.
Write to Gabriele Steinhauser at
gabriele.steinhauser@wsj.com
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