Energy Union

Sofia and Bratislava will push for Nord Stream II and South Stream gas pipeline projects to be put on an equal footing by the EU Commission, Bulgarian Deputy PM Meglena Kuneva has said.

The Bulgarian National Radio quotes her as saying an EU Summit scheduled for December is have gas pipeline projects as part of its agenda.

Moldova has joined the high-level group of CESEC, the gas connectivity initiative of the European Commission for central-eastern and southeastern Europe.

The European Commission will boost competitiveness by investing almost €16 billion in research and innovation in the next two years under Horizon 2020, the EU’s research and innovation funding scheme.

"We know we have problems, and we are not going to make a list of problems, because then people, politicians may be stimulated to add to the list, rather than ticking off and agreeing on what we have resolved." 

Bulgaria is among those poised to score the biggest gain from the European Energy Union in terms of energy security, improved connectedness with neighbor countries, and energy diversification, according to Maros Sefcovic, Vice President of the European Commission, in charge of Energy Union.

European Commission Vice-President in charge of Energy Union Maros Sefcovic is to visit Bulgaria on September 15.

The visit of Sefcovic to Bulgaria will be part of his Energy Union Tour, which was launched in May.

During the tour, he is visiting the member states of the EU to present the benefits of the union to each country.

EU member states approved on Tuesday the proposal of the European Commission (EC) to allocate EUR 150 M to twenty key trans-European energy infrastructure projects.

Among the projects selected for receiving financial assistance under the first Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) Energy 2015 call for proposals are two Bulgarian ones.

For Turkey's accession process to the European Union, it needs to develop an adequate framework to ensure a high level of nuclear safety, said EU energy union chief Maros Sefcovic on June 19.

Romania's National Defence Strategy was presented on Thursday to the representatives of the diplomatic corps of the NATO and EU member states.

The project to build a gas interconnection between Serbia and Bulgaria is one of the European Union's top priorities, the EU energy chief  Maros Sefcovic has said.