Bulgaria has decided to cancel all restrictions and issue the necessary permits for the construction of "South Stream". This statement was made today by Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.
After consultation with the leaders of European countries at the EU summit in Brussels, he noted that he "received support and understanding" that Bulgaria should not be considered guilty and should not pay fines for stopping the project. According to him, in the course of negotiations on further steps in Bulgaria, he got a solid answer - "to fulfil its international agreements" to avoid litigation and penalties. "Thus, our country is now able to fulfil its obligations on the preparatory activities, particularly for the offshore portion of the pipeline and to issue a building permit," Borisov said. At the same time, he drew attention to the fact that Bulgaria will now wait for the reaction of "Gazprom" and if the "South Stream" project is discontinued, it will not be Bulgaria's fault, Moskovsky Komsomolets reports.
Earlier this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin during negotiations in Turkey said that Russia in the current environmental circumstances cannot proceed to implement the "South Stream".
"It would be absurd to start a project in the Black Sea, along the bottom of which a gas pipeline will pass. It is obscure to invest hundreds of millions of dollars, and then stretch to the Bulgarian coast and stop," Putin said. According to him, Gazprom was ready to begin construction of "South Stream", with a capacity of around 64 billion cubic meters of gas a year, "yesterday", but if "Europe does not want to cooperate, we will not be cooperating either." In addition, Putin said that the Russian Federation will build a new gas pipeline system to meet Turkish needs. Later, the head of "Gazprom" Alexei Miller confirmed that the "South Stream" project is closed.
At the same time, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said that he adheres to the position that "South Stream" should pass through the territory of Bulgaria, as it would be useful for the country. He stressed that the indirect revenues from the project will be much more than the declared income from transit taxes of 400 million euros. According to preliminary data, Bulgaria could be losing up to $750 million a year due to the halt to the project.
A week after the declaration of the Russian President, Bulgaria sent Vice Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev and Energy Minister Petkov Temenujka to Brussels to come to an agreement with the EU about the continuation of the construction of "South Stream" with help from Russia.
