Economy Minister: Bulgaria Should Wait for Official Statement on South Stream

Economy Minister Bozhidar Lukarski has said that the South Stream gas pipeline should not be considered suspended until Russia comes up with an official statement on the matter.

Speaking Tuesday at a conference "The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP): Prospects for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses", Lukarski recommended refraining from comments on the matter until Russia issued an official statement on the move.

He said that caretaker Economy Minister Vasil Shtonov had sent a letter to Russia in August saying that the gas pipeline project clashed with EU requirements and not that the EU was not interested in it.

Asked to comment on whether the announcement of Russian President Vladimir Putin for the suspension of the South Stream gas pipeline project had been a move aimed at pressuring Bulgaria into lifting the ban on shale gas drilling, Lukarski assured that the moratorium on the production of shale gas through hydraulic fracturing would remain in place.