Bulgaria Denies Discussing Change in South Stream Status

A senior Bulgarian cabinet member has denied a media report claiming Bulgaria and Russia are discussing possibilities to exempt  the South Stream project from EU restrictions.

State radio BNR quoted Bulgaria’s caretaker Deputy Prime Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva as saying on Wednesday that no talks are currently underway to circumvent EU energy legislation by reclassifying the Bulgarian section of South Stream into a field pipeline.

Russian news agency ITAR-TASS on Tuesday quoted  a source familiar with last week’s talks between EU Energy Commissioner Gunther Oettinger and Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak as saying “the field status could solve all the problems on restrictions related to the EU third energy package,”

Zaharieva explained that talks about reclassifying the Bulgarian section of South Stream were held by the government of Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski which resigned in July to open the way for early elections on October 5.

The caretaker government, which took office on August 6, has frozen the construction of South Stream following announcement by the European Commission that Bulgaria is faced with infringement penalties unless Sofia re-negotiated its bilateral agreement with Russia for the construction of the pipeline, which the EU executive body considers to be in breach of EU law.

“For the first time our cabinet … has halted all activities related to the signing of new contracts, taking new commitments and making payments,” BNR quoted Zaharieva as saying.