Électricité de France

Bulgaria has marked significant progress in carrying out the South Stream project since the current government started its term, the country's Prime Minister asserted Monday.

Plamen Oresharski told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who is on a two-day working visit to the country, that the gas pipeline project was "one of the most important" on Bulgarian territory.

BELGRADE - President of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce (PKS) Zeljko Sertic signed in Vienna on Thursday, together with his colleagues from Bulgraia and Hungary, a joint declaration of support for the South Stream gas pipeline project and energy stability of the region.

Serbian, Bulgarian FMs: South Stream of vital importance

BELGRADE -- Ivica Dačić and Kristian Vigenin have said that the construction of the South Stream gas pipeline is of vital importance for their countries.

BELGRADE - The foreign ministers of Serbia and Bulgaria, Ivica Dacic and Kristian Vigenin respectively, said in Belgrade on Thursday that the construction of the South Stream gas pipeline is of vital importance for both countries, and Dacic underscored that this is primarily the issue of energy security and stability, and not relations with Russia.

OBRENOVAC - Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic said Thursday that he expected from a forthcoming visit by Serbia’s Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic to Moscow to prove beneficial to Serbia, adding that Serbia was a missing link for a better cooperation between the East and West.

Bulgaria argues in a letter to the European Commission that the structuring of the South Stream gas pipeline project envisages no breaches of EU law.

Bulgaria's stance was approved on June 23 and it is to be presented at the EU summit in Brussels on June 26-27.

Russian concern Gazprom struck Monday an agreement with oil and gas company OMV on the construction of Austria's stretch of the South Stream gas pipeline.

The agreement was signed on Tuesday, the day of a visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin to Vienna where he meets Austrian counterpart Heinz Fischer.

Bulgaria will hold early general elections between September 28 and October 12, the authorities said, in the hope that a fresh indication of the voter's will will help solve a year-long political crisis in the country.

Bulgaria and other EU members are being pressured into pulling out of the South Stream pipeline, Russian Economy Minister Alexander Novak said.

In a speech held at the 21st World Petroleum Congress in Moscow, he argued the EU had taken "a tough stance" on the exploitation of trans-border infrastructural projects "with Russian participation".

The South Stream gas pipeline could have a ramification to the Crimean peninsula, Oleg Savelyev, Minister of Crimean Affairs, announced.