Bulgarian Energy Minister: South Stream Should Not Be Stopped

Dragomir Stoinev stated all countries along the planned route of South Stream have united around the idea that work on the pipeline should go uninterrupted because of its strategic importance for the whole of Europe

South Stream gas pipeline project should not be stopped, Bulgarian minister of economy and energy Dragomir Stoinev said yesterday during statement before the Parliamentary energy commission. Stoinev was asked to outline Bulgaria’s position on this matter in the light of the ongoing Russian – Ukrainian crisis.

“All ministers of the countries along the planned route of South Stream have united around the idea that work on the pipeline should go uninterrupted because of its strategic importance for the whole of Europe”, minister Stoinev said.

He highlighted that Bulgaria has requested that the European Commission leads the ‘negotiations with Russia, so that all European countries along the South Stream route could receive simultaneously an approval, instead of leading negotiations by themselves.

“Italy, Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, Greece and Croatia – these countries insist on security of natural gas supply. We cannot talk about competitive economies without that”, Stoinev commented.

This article originally appeared on Publics.bg, a Natural Gas Europe Media Partner