Brussels, 21/01/2014 (Agence Europe) - The EU-Russia working group on South Stream will discuss legal and technical issues in order to reduce the disagreement between the European Commission and Moscow on the Italian-Russian gas pipeline project.
European Commissioner for Energy Günther Oettinger and Russia's Minister for Energy Alexander Novak agreed - during the Permanent Partnership Council meeting on 17 January - to set up a joint working group to discuss legal and technical issues linked to the South Stream gas pipeline project. The working group's meeting schedule has not yet been set, however. Questioned by press on Monday 20 January, Oettinger described this initiative - which was decided upon just ahead of the bilateral EU-Russia summit in Brussels on 28 January - as “a step forward”. The EU and Russia will thus try to reduce their different opinions on this highly sensitive issue.
In December 2013, the European Commission called on the EU member states taking part in the project - Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Greece and Slovenia (as well as Serbia) - to renegotiate their agreements concluded with Russia for the construction of the pipeline, believing that these agreement were not in line with EU legislation - either on environmental issues or on competition law, particularly with regard to the fundamental principles of the single market in energy. The Commission criticises Russian gas company Gazprom - which is leading the gas pipeline project alongside Italian energy company ENI - for not respecting the principle of unbundling energy supply from transport.
Moscow has denied this, giving assurances that the intergovernmental agreements would not be renegotiated given their validity in international law. Russia's Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev flatly refused the EU's demands, and said in mid-December that the intergovernmental agreements took precedence over EU legislation. Russia's Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov nevertheless confirmed Russia's resolve, on Tuesday 21 January, to calm the situation. “We understand that a solution needs to be found that does not run counter to the intergovernmental agreements”, he stated, as quoted by Russian news agency Itar-Tass.
South Stream is due to link Russia to Bulgaria in order to provide twin supply to the European market- one in the south, crossing Greece to reach Italy, the other in the north crossing Serbia, Hungary and Slovenia to reach Austria. The whole pipeline bypasses Ukraine, the main transit country for Russian gas to Europe. Construction work on the project started in Bulgaria and Serbia at the end of last year, and further work will soon begin in Hungary. (EH/transl.fl)