site.btaBulgaria, Greece, Romania Sign Statement on Vertical Gas Corridor

Bulgaria, Greece, Romania Sign Statement on Vertical Gas Corridor

Brussels, December 9 (BTA) - Bulgaria, Greece and Romania have 
signed Tuesday in Brussels a joint statement on a natural gas 
"Vertical Corridor" connecting the three countries. This 
transpired from a joint statement of the energy ministers and 
representatives of Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Italy, 
Romania and Slovenia and European Commission Vice President 
Maris Sefcovic who held a meeting here. It says that the "Member
  States and the Vice-President welcomed the joint statement" on
  the Vertical Corridor signed by the three countries the same 
day.

The representatives of Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, 
Italy, Romania and Slovenia as well as European Commission 
Vice-President for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic have met to 
discuss gas infrastructure priorities for Central and 
South-Eastern Europe and the aftermath of the announcement by 
the Russian Federation and Gazprom about the abandonment of the
 South Stream project.

The Member States directly concerned took note of the currently
 unofficial nature of this announcement and invited the 
Vice-President to clarify the situation with the Russian side, 
the statement says. "All Member States agreed that the EU must 
remain strongly committed to integrating Central and 
South-Eastern European gas markets and diversifying gas 
suppliers, sources and routes. This is also a key objective of 
the Energy Union, one of the priority projects of the new 
Commission".

The statement further highlights the importance of integrating 
gas markets and the diversifying gas supplies. "This can be 
achieved by implementing key regional projects (e.g. LNG 
terminals with corresponding pipeline systems, connections to 
the Southern Gas Corridor, or the development of East 
Mediterranean and Black Sea offshore gas reserves), by improving
  interconnections within the region, in particular between 
Bulgaria and its neighbouring countries, and by improving 
North-South interconnections enabled with bi-directional flows.
 New routes operated in line with EU law can also contribute to
 increased security of supply in the region," the statement
goes.

It says that it is crucial to swiftly complete projects already
underway and speed up development of projects of common interest
 identified as being of strategic importance.

The representatives of the seven Member States and the
Vice-President agreed to set up a high-level working group
consisting of the concerned Member States with the support of
the European Commission to coordinate these efforts and to
facilitate the development and execution of cross-border
projects as well as trans-European projects allowing for
diversification of gas supplies to the region. The first
deliverable of the high-level working group will be to develop
an action plan for integrating Central and South-Eastern
European gas markets and interconnections.

Emerging from a working lunch with his counterparts of Austria,
Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Romania and Slovenia and
Commission Vice President Maris Sefcovic, Bulgarian Deputy Prime
 Minister Tomislav Donchev said that he repeatedly insisted to
hear the European Commission position on South Stream. "This
project is very much abstract for some EU countries but for us
it is very tangible. We are involved in the preparatory
procedures, the Bulgarian institutions have responsibilities in
this process and we need an answer," he said. 

Donchev also said that Vice President Sefcovic was mandated to
hold talks with Russia on South Stream and this is expected to
happen in early 2015.
   
According to Donchev, Bulgaria has no written notification from
the Russian side about their plans for South Stream. "Formally,
the project has not been suspended," he said.

***

BTA correspondent Nickolay Jeliazkov contributed to this story
from Brussles.