site.btaBEH Chief: Bulgaria Did Not Bring South Stream Documents in Conformity with EU Legislation

BEH Chief: Bulgaria Did Not Bring South Stream Documents in Conformity with EU Legislation

Sofia, December 11 (BTA) - Despite all public announcements that
 the South Stream project has been cancelled, the Bulgarian Energy Holding
(BEH) in its capacity as shareholder has not received a formal
notification, BEH CEO Jacklen Cohen told a hearing by Parliament's energy
committee on Thursday. 

Cohen said that the European Commission's main objections were
that the project did not conform with EU's Third Energy Package.
 He said that the South Stream intergovernmental agreement
between Russia and Bulgaria was signed when the Second Energy
Package was still in place. At the end of April 2008, the
European Commission notified Bulgaria that the intergovernmental
 agreement did not conform with the Second Energy Package and
subsequently in 2013. Cohen said that Bulgaria could have taken
steps to bring the South Stream documents into conformity with
EU legislation but it did not.

Cohen said that there is no longterm agreement fixing Bulgaria's
 revenues from the project. He said that a commission had
scrutinized all existing documents and a report had been
submitted to Energy Minister Temenouzhka Petkova.

The parliamentary energy committee decided that all South Stream
 documents be filed with the records office of the National
Assembly.