Standart: South Stream: EU okays to represent Bulgaria in negotiations with Russia - Gazprom and Serbia agree on pipeline leg to Macedonia

According to Standart daily, the European Commission will take the lead in negotiations with Moscow on the construction of the South Stream gas pipeline for it to correspond to the European requirements, it was agreed in a working breakfast between For EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger and the relevant ministers from affected countries Bulgaria , Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Italy, Greece and Austria. The agreement was reported on yesterday's meeting of the Council of Ministers.

The purpose of the delegation of these rights of the EC is to reach a common position and comparable results for all the participating countries. This idea was first presented by Bulgaria after Brussels demanded renegotiation of intergovernmental agreements between Russia and the other South Stream.

Back in December, Bulgarian Minister of Economy Dragomir Stoynev handed Oettinger letter with a mandate to negotiate with Moscow on behalf of Bulgaria.

The bilateral agreements for the construction of the Gazprom-favoured South Stream gas pipeline are all in breach of EU law and need to be renegotiated from scratch, the European Commission said on December 4.  MORE