South Stream Gas Pipes ‘Still Arriving’ in Bulgaria

The European Commission on Thursday said that it was aware that a video showed workers at Varna harbour in Bulgaria making room for more pipes to be used for the construction of the pipeline, EurActiv reported.

The video was published by Dnevnik, which said the first batch of pipes had arrived by sea on August 14 from Germany.

Bulgaria’s caretaker government, which took office on August 6 pending general elections, said it had halted construction of the pipeline in line with EU demands.

This followed indications that it faced penalties if it did not re-negotiate its bilateral 2008 agreement with Russia to construct the pipeline, which Brussels says breaches EU law.

At the G7 summit held in Brussels on 4 June, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso said the EU's executive had launched an infringement procedure against Bulgaria for non-compliance with European rules on energy competition public procurements.

This Monday, the Ministry of Economy and Energy said it had ordered all work on the South Stream gas pipeline project to be stopped.