ENERGY COMMISSIONER CANETE: EC SUPPORTS THE CONSTRUCTION OF GAS HUB IN BULGARIA

The European Commission (EC) will support Bulgaria’s efforts to build "Balkan"  gas hub, the European Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy, Miguel Canete, said after the meeting with Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Boyko Borisov on 26th of May.

Bulgaria has the full potential to become a leader in gas transmission in Central and Southeast Europe, the energy commissioner  said. The idea about “Balkan” gas hub has been developed exceptionally well for one year and has the full support of the EC because it brings security to the supplies for Europe.

Canete said that this gas hub would enable the use of different gas sources, including Russian gas. Our main objective is to diversify the gas sources, as well as the routes and suppliers. The EC will support all efforts of the Bulgarian government to develop this European gas hub on the territory of Bulgaria, Canete highlighted. According to him, the construction of such gas hub will prevent a repetition of the crises which occurred in 2005 and 2009.

PM Borisov said that unlike a year and a half ago, the EC now had trust in the Bulgarian government that the project would be implemented.

He added that when the interconnectors with Greece, Romania, Serbia and Turkey were completed, Bulgaria would have the chance to become a large gas market. Borisov said that the gas hub would be open for Russian gas as well, providing the European rules were observed.

Canete said that the focus in the work of Bulgaria and EC would remain the further development of the interconnection gas pipelines with Greece, Turkey, Romania and Serbia.

"Creating interconnections is a very difficult thing to do. We managed to start  and almost finalised 14 projects of common interest, related to energy sector and I would like to stress that in Bulgaria things are progressing more speedily than in other places," the energy commissioner said. He noted that Bulgaria was a leader in the efforts for providing security of gas supplies and had the potential to become one of the most important gas hubs in Europe. " You have the support of the EU,"  Canete said.

He praised the Bulgarian government for having exceeded the targets for reduction of  harmful emissions in the air.