It seems that Sofia is extremely interested in the Russian-European project for construction of the South Stream gas pipeline, passing through Bulgaria. Although Russia officially said it buried the project, Bulgarian authorities continue to consider the project a priority and rely on it for realizing the ambitions of turning the country into a kind of energy hub in Europe, or at least in the Balkan Peninsula. Not coincidentally and with full knowledge of what they do, the government of Prime Minister Boyko Borissov wrote in their program that a priority will be facilitating the construction of the pipeline on Bulgarian land to the final destination in Central Europe. Minister of Energy Temenuzhka Petkova pointed out that "the project is undoubtedly important for Bulgaria in terms of diversification of supply routes, and that it would have a positive effect on the Bulgarian economy." This comes despite the fact that Russian President Vladimir Putin himself firmly announced the failure of the project in December after the head of Russian giant "Gazprom" Alexei Miller told Vice President of the European Commission and Commissioner for Energy Maroš Šefčovič that the project was buried. These days even Bulgarian Vice President of the European Commission and Commissioner for budget and human resources Kristalina Georgieva delicately recalled that it is all finished and Bulgaria should be looking for other options in the energy sphere. Just a few days before that, US Secretary of State John Kerry openly said in Sofia that the almost complete energy dependence of Bulgaria on Russia was unacceptable for a  NATO member, which made it clear that the US was satisfied by the failure of the project for a new Russian gas pipeline to Bulgaria.

The Deputy Prime Minister Rumyana Buchvarova, however, explained the stubbornness of the cabinet and the unwillingness to accept the obvious facts with the purely formal reason that Sofia has not received yet formal notification from Moscow for the termination of the project. Her words were confirmed by the head of the "South Stream Bulgaria" company Dimitar Gogov, who said that the company is functioning and also paying huge salaries. The businessman said the company continued with the active management of its assets on Bulgarian territory. In fact, it must be said this Russian-Bulgarian company has a lot to deal with, because before the suspension of the project it bought large areas of land for the needs of the pipeline construction, while in Bulgarian ports thousands of tons of metal pipes were unloaded. Now these lands and pipes must find their new owners and their sale could recover at least part of the investments made in vain. And it seems that there are plans of the two shareholders to sell the company itself, which has a capital of 200 million euro.

Anyway, such a giant project cannot be stopped for a month or two. Time is required and Sofia can use it to create a new formula and propose a new energy project that is to be better aligned with European requirements, with US interests in the region and the goal of reducing the country's dependence on Russian energy supplies. The new project still needs to bring incomes that the country needs so desperately in order to solve acute social and economic problems that are characteristic of the poorest EU Member State.

English: Alexander Markov