... gas to Southeast Europe. Nevertheless, due to the fact that Gazprom is conducting talks with European Commission (EC) to construct Nord Stream – 2, one could assert that the pipe game is far from over. Taking financial difficulties into account, Gazprom might also intent to use Turkish Stream as a leverage in its negotiations with the EC. Now competition between Nord Stream–2, Turkish Stream and even South Stream projects is reemerging and if the Nord Stream – 2 fails, the likelihood of the Turkish Stream becoming a reality will increase. Actually, Poland's objections to a joint venture for the Nord Stream – 2 project expressed through ...
... to connect the country directly with the European market, bypassing transit countries, primarily Ukraine. The northern part of this system, Nord Stream, is already up and running, albeit with certain restrictions imposed by the European Commission. Gazprom had envisioned the Nord and South streams as becoming a stable infrastructural system in the strategic partnership between Russia (the main supplier) and Europe (the main consumer), without the need for transit countries. But the idea did not garner much support from the European ...
... nationalists of Ataka – will remain in opposition in the forty-third Bulgarian parliament.
The new government, led by GERB’s Boyko Borisov, will have its hands full on many fronts. But one of the key issues that outsiders will be watching is the South Stream project, the gas pipeline that is intended to circumvent Ukraine and deliver Russian gas to Italy and Central Europe.
Many governments in the region are under pressure both from Gazprom and from the European Commission: the Russian gas giant is pressuring governments to build the pipeline, while the European Commission is trying to convince them to block the project. But for the last few months, they have had a convenient excuse ...
... pipeline that seek to circumvent Russia are built on financial fantasy and betoken of a short-termism that is strategically reckless. Continued austerity for the next decade and perhaps longer will probably end any remaining hopes for both Nabucco and South Stream.
But the energy battle between the EU and Russia over Nabucco and South Stream is a proxy conflict in a wider war of rival visions – a growing strategic divergence that risks dividing the greater Europe permanently. Just as the EU ...
... resulting in a natural price increase as pipeline construction or alike now costs more. Also, the European centre-periphery model has altered with population becoming less concentrated requiring an additional infrastructure, thus expenditure. In fact, Gazprom has reduced prices by pursuing its own strategy of spreading costs by building more pipelines and supplying more gas; South Stream pipeline introduction resulted in lower prices for European consumers.
That said, Europe still does not agree, wishing to fit a North American Model where long-term contracts are near absent as purely basic economic principles of supply ...
