Bulgaria will build South Stream against the will of the EU

Bulgarian Energy Minister Dragomir Stoinev met with EU Energy Commissioner Gunter Oettinger to discuss the future of the Gazprom-sponsored South Stream gas pipeline. But both sides offered widely diverging interpretations of further cooperation with Russia.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Stoinev said that South Stream would not be stopped and rejected calls from the European Parliament to freeze the project. In light of the crisis in Ukraine, the European Parliament expressed the opinion that the South Stream gas pipeline should not be built and that the EU should buy its gas from other suppliers, not Russia.

But Stoinev insisted that construction on South Stream would begin in June as planned. He blamed the center-right opposition for misinforming the European Commission in an attempt to "disrupt" the pipeline project.

The Bulgarian minister noted that the first onshore South Stream station will be built 2 km from the Black Sea coast, and not 20 km, as the opposition said, which is "a huge difference," he said.

Stoinev explained that EU directives on energy liberalization cannot be applied to offshore pipelines, but only in the onshore part. The minister promised that Sofia will inform the Commission about amendments to South Stream, if any.

The Bulgarian parliament adopted in the first reading amendments to the country's energy law, according to which South Stream will be considered a connecting stream. Thus, favoring the project of Gazprom, exempting from falling under the so-called third package of EU directives on energy liberalization.