site.btaEC: We Have No Police in Bulgaria and Serbia to Monitor South Stream's Construction, but We Have Infringement Procedures

EC: We Have No Police in Bulgaria and Serbia
to Monitor South Stream's Construction,
but We Have Infringement Procedures


Brussels, September 17 (BTA correspondent Nikolay Jeliazkov) -
The European Commission urged Bulgaria to stop construction of
the South Stream natural gas pipeline. The Commission said it
does not have police on the ground in Serbia or Bulgaria to
monitor what is happening. "That's not the way we actually do
it. In the European Union we have infringement procedures
against the government," said here on Wednesday Marlene Holzner
- Spokesperson of EU Energy Commissioner Gunther Oettinger.
Holzner was commenting Belgrade's declared intentions to
construct the pipeline.

"Bulgaria is a part of the European Union and there we have
sought an infringement procedure, saying that Bulgaria has to
really stick to all the rules which govern public tender. We
question whether that has been the case and it was in this kind
of procedure that we have asked them to stop building (the
pipeline). And this procedure is ongoing," Holzner said.

Holzner said the case with Serbia is different, as it is not
part of the EU and the internal market rules can not be applied
there, adding however, that in case the pipeline becomes
operational, the Commission can also look into it from the point
of the energy community, which has its own legal instruments
that are different than in the European Union.

"Whether it is Serbia, whether it is Bulgaria, if the idea is to
bring gas from Russia to Europe, you have to go through
European territory. As we have said for all big infrastructure
(projects) - if you do business on European territory, you do
have to respect European legislation," Oettinger's Spokesperson
said.