South Stream should not be used for blackmailing

Russian energy giant Gazprom has officially invited Romania to participate in the Russian-Italian South Stream natural gas pipeline. Writing in the Voxpublica blog, Laura Cernahoschi analyses why Gazprom is giving preference to Romania over Bulgaria, which up to now had been a top candidate: "The new [Bulgarian] government wants to renegotiate the conditions of the contract. And above all it wants a higher price for transiting the gas. ... There are two routes South Stream can take. Either through Ukraine and Romania towards the EU states or via Turkey and Bulgaria. If South Stream runs through Romania Bulgaria will be left out of the picture. I don't know whether there have already been talks between ... the Romanian and Bulgarian government on participation in South Stream. If not they should begin between the two EU member states, which belong to the same political family, so that Romania's participation in the project can't be used as a means of blackmail."

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