European Commission

A joint IMF and European Commission delegation had its first discussions with Romanian officials on Tuesday over the Balkan country's draft budget for next year.

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EU plans to "continue discussions on South Stream"

BRUSSELS -- The European Commission will continue discussions on the South Stream gas pipeline despite the announcement of Russia that the project was dead.

"The next meeting" on this subject will be held on December 9, said European Commission Vice President for Energy Maros Sefcovic.

Russia's decision to abandon the South Stream pipeline project is a problem for Serbia which is forcing Belgrade is going to study alternative options to ensure its gas supplies,  Serbian Deputy PM Zorana Mihajlovic said on Tuesday.

BELGRADE - Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Zorana Mihajlovic said Tuesday that the freezing of the South Stream pipeline project was a problem for Serbia but she still did not think it meant a real end to South Stream.

Kristalina Georgieva, the European budget commissioner, said on Tuesday the European Union would speed up work to help provide more energy security for Southeastern Europe, including by financing gas connectors between Bulgaria, Romania and Greece, after Russia on Monday announced it was dropping the South Stream project.

There had been no official response by Tuesday night from the troika to the Greek government’s proposals for breaking a deadlock over the program review as Prime Minister Antonis Samaras told an audience in Athens that he would not give in to “unreasonable” demands.

BELGRADE - The South Stream gas pipeline project has been closed, and Gazprom, which was one of the initiators of the project, will build a new gas pipeline to Turkey, Alexei Miller, the chief executive of Russia's state-controlled gas exporter Gazprom, has stated.

BELGRADE - Milorad Dodik, president of Republika Srpska, the Serb constituent entity in Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH), believes that Russia's decision to give up the South Stream pipeline project is not final, as a lot of money has been invested in this project.

The European Commission revealed that no legal framework existed for compensating Bulgaria due to Russia's announced cancellation of the construction of the South Stream pipeline.

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The European Commission said on Tuesday it will continue talks on South Stream with EU member states despite Russia's announcement that it has abandoned the gas pipeline project.

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