South Stream Agreements Trump EU Laws, Says Russia's PM

The agreements signed by Russia and European countries for the construction of the South Stream are acts of international law that should benefit from a rule of precedence on national laws, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday.

“Legal acts of the EU are considered to be national laws for the countries of the EU... (while) intergovernmental agreements, signed by Russia and the above-named countries of the EU are acts of international law. On the whole, there is a rule of precedence of international law over national law. We only understand it this way,” Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev told reporters in Moscow.

Russia has entered into bi-lateral agreements for the construction of the South Stream pipeline with EU members Bulgaria, Hungary, Greece, Slovenia, Croatia and Austria, as well as Serbia, which is a member of the Energy Community. 

“The Commission has looked into these intergovernmental agreements and came to the conclusion that none of the agreements is in compliance with EU law," Klaus-Dieter Borchardt, director for energy markets at the European Commission, said last week at a conference held by Natural Gas Europe | Gas Dialogues

The European Commission has suggested that Russia should proceed with making an application for an exemption to EU rules for the South Stream gas pipeline.