Brussels again warns about the South Stream project problem

The Council of Ministers of BiH did not discuss the Draft Basis for conducting negotiations for the conclusion of an agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and BiH on cooperation in the field of gas and electricity at today's session. This item was removed from the agenda, as warnings were received from the European Commission and the Energy Community that this agreement completely deviates from European legislation, writes the Patria News Agency.

Nevertheless, the European Commission reacted again, and Maja Kocijančič, spokesperson for Štefan Füle, Commissioner for Enlargement, stated that the European Commission wishes to reiterate that the implementation of the South Stream project has implications for numerous countries outside the EU, as well as for the EU as a whole.

- The EU emphasizes that the agreement must be fully compliant with the applicable law of the European Union. BiH, as a signatory to the Energy Community Treaty, has a contractual obligation to implement all provisions of this treaty. In this regard, BiH is already obliged to implement the second energy package and should refrain from taking any measures that are not in line with it or could jeopardize the implementation of the third energy package – stated Kocijančič.

This means, the EU stated, that South Stream in the Energy Community countries must operate under the same rules and principles as the parts in the member states of the European Union.

- Compliance with the relevant energy regulatory framework includes, in particular, provisions relating to market opening, third-party access, ownership unbundling, and tariff setting – added Kocijančič.

It was noted that the EU expects any intergovernmental agreement to fully respect the obligations arising from the Energy Community Treaty.

- In a letter to the Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of BiH, the Secretariat of the Energy Community pointed out significant violations of the Energy Community in the draft of that agreement. The Commission has reminded the authorities in BiH of their obligation to correct the problems in a new draft of the agreement – added Kocijančič.

At the session of the Council of Ministers of BiH, it was concluded that in the next few sessions the agreement should be harmonized between the two entities, as the Government of the FBiH has not given the green light for it.