MIHAJLOVIC: Serbia must postpone commencement of South Stream construction

(Zorana Mihajlovic)

Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Zorana Mihajlovic stated in a comment on the Bulgaria's decision to suspend work on South Stream at the request of the European Commission that Serbia as well would have to postpone the commencement of construction of that gas pipeline.

- Bulgaria is a hub. Therefore, we're on standby either until the talks between Bulgaria and Brussels and between the European Union and Russia are finished or until Russia changes the route. But anyway, the result of any of these two scenarios is the postponement of works in our country - Mihajlovic told the daily Blic on Monday.

Serbian Energy and Mining Minister Aleksandar Antic also pointed out that the future of the project depended primarily on the agreement between the European Commission on one side and EU countries and Russia on the other.

- South Stream is important for us as both development and energy project, but it is clear that Serbia is only one of the countries on the route of this gas pipeline and, at the same time, the only state that is not a member of the EU other than Russia - said Antic.

Bulgaria has halted work on the South Stream project, Bulgarian Prime Minister Plamen Oresarski said after a meeting with a group of US senators on Sunday.

- We've received a request from the European Commission (EC), after which I ordered the suspension of work. Further activities will be defined upon additional consultations with Brussels - Itar-Tass cited Oresarski as saying.

The EU requested from Bulgaria on Wednesday to discontinue the implementation of South Stream project. On that occasion, EC Commissioner for Energy Sabina Berger cited two legal reasons for such step. One of these reasons is the European Commission's request for the allignment of bilateral agreements on the construction of South Stream gas pipeline with the norms referred to in the Third Energy Package.

Besides, Brussels has accused Bulgaria of violating European rules when announcing a tender for the construction of infrastructure projects and granting privileges to Russian and Bulgarian companies.