DW: Strife over South Stream

The article is from Deutsche Welle

Bulgaria has yielded to pressure from Europe and indefinitely halted work on the Russian gasline project South Stream. But experts believe the decision may do more harm than good for the government in Sofia.

Bulgaria is in the midst of a political quagmire. The opposition in parliament has repeatedly pushed for votes of no confidence and next week a date will be set for early parliamentary elections.

Experts believe the current problems of the socialist-dominated government stem from the South Stream gasline project. Public sentiment in Bulgaria is that politicians have caved to western pressure and sacrificed a project that could be very lucrative for the country.

The European Commission has said the gasline project may break EU competition rules and filed a criminal case against Bulgaria last week. Sofia reacted by halting work on the pipeline for now.

The Russian gas giant Gazprom controls 50 percent of the entire planned South Stream network, including all of the pipeline in Bulgaria. This violates Europe's so-called Third Energy Package, which emphasizes the need to decouple the production of natural gas from transport and consumer supply so as not to distort competition.

Additionally, the construction contract in Bulgaria was awarded to a consortium involved with the Russian company Stroytransgaz. The former Gazprom subsidiary is on a list of companies affected by US sanctions against Russia in light of the conflict in Ukraine.

Following a meeting with three American senators, Bulgarian Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski announced his country would freeze work on the South Stream project until the EU's concerns were allayed.

At the same time, two Bulgarian...