Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said his government is committed to making South Stream financially profitable for Bulgaria. “We just work to make this to be financially good for Bulgaria and this is our aim and to protect our ecological systems - what we have always been aiming for,” he told New Europe during his visit to Brussels on November 11.
In January 2009 a contract dispute between Kiev and Moscow caused major gas disruption in Europe. Balkan countries like Bulgaria, the worst hit by the January crisis due to a lack of access to alternative routes, have achieved little progress in reducing their almost full dependence on Russian gas in the medium to long-term.
Bulgaria will participate in both the EU-backed Nabucco pipeline that will carry gas from different suppliers to Europe and the Gazprom-ENI South Stream project.
Until now, Bulgaria was considered key to South Steam, which is planned to run from the Black Sea’s Northern Caucasus shore to the Bulgarian port city of Varna. However, the Bulgarian government said two weeks ago that it will make South Stream a priority.
On another topic, asked about the three first things he will do to combat corruption, he said. “We follow the same way, revisionary, a revision of the former government and without compromise against everybody else who is now active in the position of the state.