The European Commission has recommended that Serbia halt the construction of the South Stream gas pipeline until the project is completely aligned to EU legislation, the EU Information Centre in Belgrade said.
"The European Commission is not concerned about the pipeline itself but about the way the project is being implemented," the EU Information Centre said in a statement made available to SeeNews on Monday.
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 ($21.6 billion).
In June, Bulgarian prime minister Plamen Oresharski said Bulgaria was halting the construction of the South Stream section on its territory until the project is aligned to EU law. The Bulgarian authorities had earlier received a letter of formal notice from the European Commission, asking the country to suspend the project's implementation as it runs counter to EU legislation.
At the same time Brussels is encouraging Serbia to work on the gas interconnection pipeline with Bulgaria, which would improve the country's energy security, the statement said.
The Commission has allocated 14.2 million euro to the construction of the gas interconnector. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has vowed to support the project if Serbia wraps up the restructuring of state-owned gas monopoly Srbijagas in line with EU rules.
Source: SeeNews