Brussels, 05/06/2014 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission wants to ensure that all energy infrastructure and infrastructure projects in the EU - such as South Stream - comply 100% with European rules, said European Commission President José Manuel Barroso on Wednesday 4 June.
“We have just launched an infringement procedure against Bulgaria which shows that we mean business. Other infringement procedures related to other countries will follow if some of the obstacles to the respect of our internal market are not removed meanwhile”, Barroso stated. “The European Union needs to speak and act as one in context with its suppliers. Letting ourselves divided is against the self interest of our countries and is also detrimental for the European internal market”, he added.
On 2 June, the Commission opened an infringement procedure against Bulgaria, requesting information on contracts being awarded to the South Stream Bulgaria company - an act which the Commission believes runs counter to European legislation on public procurement. At the same time, it has asked Sofia to suspend construction of the section of the South Stream gas pipeline on Bulgarian territory.
The Commission contests the legality of awarding public contracts to the Bulgarian company in charge of designing, financing, constructing and managing the gas pipeline for two reasons: firstly, the procedure which resulted in the choice of South Stream Bulgaria was carried out without any call for competition; and secondly, the intergovernmental agreement between Bulgaria and Russia on South Stream offers the opportunity to award subcontracts first to Bulgarian and Russian bidders.
Assessments of public contract award procedures currently ongoing in the other member countries of the EU that are party to South Stream (Austria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary and Slovenia) are also under way.
South Stream - which is led by Russian gas company Gazprom and Italian energy company ENI, and joined by French company EDF - aims to link Russia to Bulgaria under the Black Sea, thus bypassing Ukraine, so as to serve the European market through two branches: one in the south, towards Italy passing through Greece, and the other in the north, towards Austria, Croatia and Slovenia passing through Serbia and Hungary. (EH)