European Union's Nabucco gas
pipeline project will play an important role for Bulgaria's future and
the coming year will be crucial for it, former German foreign minister
Joschka Fischer said in Sofia.
Fischer, now an adviser for partners in the Nabucco consortium, the
German and Austrian energy giants RWE and OMV, arrived in Sofia to
discuss the project with Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and
other officials.
"I am keen on drumming support for Nabucco because Europe will need
more and more gas," he said, but downplayed the rivalry between Nabucco
and South Stream, neither of which has moved into the construction
phase.
Asked about the potential providers of gas, Fischer singled out Northern Iraq, as well as Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan.
"The project should be implemented step by step so that we can be
absolutely sure that these countries will agree to provide gas," he
added.
Following his meeting with Fischer, Bulgaria's Energy and Economy
Minister Traycho Traykov said the country has no plans to pull out of
the project.
According to the minister the Bulgarian state has to secure EUR 300 M for the completion of the project.
Earlier in the day Bulgaria's Foreign Minister Rumiana Jeleva made
it clear that the government assigns great importance to the European
Union's Nabucco gas pipeline project and it will be given a higher
priority over Moscow's rival plan.
Bulgaria, in which the pipeline from Caspian gas fields is to enter the EU, holds a 16.5 % stake in the EUR 8 B project.
The Nabucco pipeline is planned across Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey
and Bulgaria, its construction executed by a consortium of firms from
EU nations - Germany, Austria, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria - as well
as Turkey.
The project is the EU's attempt to diversify sources and reduce dependency on Russia.