The European Commission has opened an infringement procedure against Bulgaria
over the implementation of the South Stream gas pipeline project, the
Commission's Internal Market and Services directorate said on
Tuesday.
The European Commission sent the Bulgarian authorities on Monday
a letter of formal notice, asking the country to suspend the implementation of
the South Stream project until it is fully compliant with EU law, a press
officer at the Commission's Internal Market and Services directorate told
SeeNews in an emailed statement.
"We have already expressed our concerns
with compliance with EU energy rules. But we also have grounds to believe that
other internal market rules, in particular those related to the award of public
contracts, are being breached," the press officer said.
The letter
represents the first stage of an infringement procedure.
Bulgarian
authorities have one month to reply.
Commenting on the Commission's
letter, Bulgarian economy minister Dragomir Stoynev said that the government
will continue dialogue with Brussels on the project.
"We will continue
the constructive dialogue that we have always held with the European Commission
on the South Stream project," Stoynev said, as quoted in a press release of the
economy ministry.
The South Stream project should not be held hostage to
Russia-Ukraine relations, the economy minister stressed.
Earlier on
Tuesday the state-run news agency BTA reported that the European Commission sees
two key problems regarding the construction of the gas pipeline in Bulgaria: the
fact that the South Stream Bulgaria company has been awarded the design,
financing, construction and management of the gas pipeline without the relevant
transparent competitive bidding procedures; and that the contracts with
subcontractors can give precedence to particular Russian and Bulgarian
companies.
The planned South Stream gas pipeline will carry gas from
Russia to central and southern Europe via Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary and
Slovenia, reaching its full capacity of some 63 billion cubic metres per year by
2017. The total value of the Gazprom-spearheaded project is estimated at some 16
billion euro ($21.8 billion).