EurActiv: South Stream bilateral deals breach EU law, Commission says

The bilateral agreements for the construction of the Gazprom-favoured South Stream gas pipeline – concluded between Russia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Greece, Slovenia, Croatia and Austria – are all in breach of EU law and need to be renegotiated from scratch, the European Commission said today.

Speaking in the European Parliament, Klaus-Dieter Borchardt, director for energy markets at the European Commission, said the deals were in breach of EU law.

“The Commission has looked into these intergovernmental agreements and came to the conclusion that none of the agreements is in compliance with EU law," Borchardt said.

"That is the reason why we have told these states that they are under the obligation, either coming from the EU treaties, or from the Energy Community treaty, that they have to ask for re-negotiation with Russia, to bring the intergovernmental agreements in line with EU law,” he added.

The development comes at a moment of heightened sensitivity in EU-Russia relations. Last week European heads of state were dismayed by the decision of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych to reject the signing of a partnership agreement that would bond relations between the former Soviet state and the EU.

Instead, Yanukovych has signalled Ukraine will bind itself closer to Russia, triggering mass protests at home in favour of closer ties with Europe.  MORE