Bulgaria has almost been blacklisted by the European Union because of the South Stream Project between Russian and Bulgaria. Last week, the European Commission started an investigation for evident breach of membership duties because of the imminent construction of a pipeline beneath the Black Sea to transport natural gas from Russia to Bulgaria, and from Bulgaria to European countries via Greece and Romania.
The main objective of constructing such a route was essentially to by-pass both Turkey and Ukraine and to establish a firmer grip on transportation of natural gas to Europe through Russian-controlled routes. There was much reluctance to such a project from the main EU countries because the project was costly and it aimed very visibly to get Ukraine out of the way, allowing Vladimir Putin to use the leverage of natural gas against the latter. With the annexation of Crimea, the undersea pipeline will have to cross the Ukrainian continental shelf, which is no longer recognized by Putin as being part of Ukraine.
The South Stream is also an important instrument in the hands of Russia to divert possible gas routes from Central Asian countries toward Europe over land through Anatolia. The EU does not wish to establish a "South Stream," whereas there is already a North Stream, but member states are divided regarding the policies to adopt against Russia.
The founding fathers of the EU would never have thought that EU member states would be so divided on establishing a common position vis-à-vis Russia, even after the demise of the socialist system. Russia no longer exports any ideology, but diligently uses its experience and networking as a former superpower to destabilize countries that act against its own interests. Ukraine is the most obvious target. By diversifying the transport means toward Europe, Russia will be in a position to ask for "pre-paid" gas delivery to Ukraine, already indebted to Gazprom for the amount of $3.6 billion, and cut off gas supplies to Ukraine without jeopardizing the supply to the EU countries.
The first recipient country to the South Stream is Bulgaria, and Bulgaria has a very strong tradition of collaborating closely with Russia no matter who governs both countries. The EU accepted both Romania and Bulgaria in 2007 not on the grounds that they were able to fulfill the relevant membership criteria, but to be able to secure their hesitant parliamentarian democratic regimes and to support and boost structures that would pave the way to a functioning democracy.
What happened was unfortunately contrary to expectations, especially in the case of Bulgaria. A deeply corrupt system of administration has resisted EU reforms and does not look at all to be destabilized soon. Bulgaria joyously disregards the EU membership requirements and collaborates with Putin, totally sabotaging land transportation from Turkey to Europe and despite some reprimands, consolidating its regime of oligarchs. It is also destroying the few remnant positive effects of the enlargement and trying to isolate Turkey – definitely a case for better deliberation and analysis in Brussels.
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