The legal issues on the implementation of the South Stream gas pipeline project
are not insurmountable, the president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude
Juncker, said on Thursday.
"We should do what is best for Bulgaria and
best for Europe," Juncker said in a statement following a meeting with Bulgarian
prime minister Boyko Borisov. "South Stream can be built. Conditions have been
clear since a long time."
"The ball is in the court of Russia," he
added.
Russian president Vladimir Putin said on Monday Russia has
abandoned plans to build the South Stream gas pipeline but is ready to build
another pipeline system to Turkey instead. The construction of South Stream's
offshore part cannot start as Bulgaria has not given its permission and Russia
has been forced to reconsider its participation in the project, Putin further
said.
The South Stream gas pipeline, spearheaded by Gazprom, was planned
to carry gas from Russia to central and southern Europe via Bulgaria, Serbia,
Hungary and Slovenia. The total value of the project was estimated at 16 billion
euro ($19.7 billion). Commercial operation of South Stream was scheduled to
start by the end of 2015 with the pipeline reaching its full capacity of some 63
billion cubic metres per year by 2017.
The European Commission, however,
has said it runs counter to EU law.
In June, the Bulgarian government
said it halted the construction of the gas pipeline on its territory until it
complies with EU legislation.
"We want energy to flow to Bulgaria and to
the whole of Europe and we will not accept any blackmailing on energy matters, "
Juncker also said. "We will be working closely together on the Juncker
Investment Plan to ensure that energy interconnectors are a key element in the
new wave of investments of the 315 billion euro we want to
trigger."
Bulgaria imports almost all the natural gas it needs from
Russia through a pipeline crossing the territories of Ukraine, Moldova and
Romania.