By Kostis Geropoulos
New Europe

Bulgaria attended the celebrations in Poland's Gdansk on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II, but Sofia's focus was on the meeting between Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

Borisov had a 30-40-minute talk with Putin on September 1 on joint projects with Russia, including the South Stream gas pipeline, the Burgas-Alexandoupolis oil pipeline and the Belene nuclear power plant.

Putin called on Borisov's government to make up its mind as soon as possible on South Stream and Burgas-Alexandroupolis. "If for some reason your government discovers that some of the projects is not in Bulgaria's interest, this will not cause any problems in our relations. We are going to discuss the projects that we are going to launch. We will find other projects for cooperation. The only thing we ask is for you to make up your mind as soon as possible," Putin declared. "We have been discussing Burgas-Alexandroupolis for many years, but the talk here is just about 280 kilometers," he said, adding that Russia had built 1,500 kilometers of pipeline from East Siberia to China in just two years.

"Just tell us ‘no' and that's all. The same refers to other projects," he said.

Immediately before and after the election that brought Borisov to the post of prime minister, he and some of his associates publicly expressed reservations about joint energy projects with Russia and to which previous Bulgarian governments had committed Sofia.

Now, Borisov seems to have softened his stance.

At his meeting with Putin, Borisov said Bulgaria saw no problems with the South Stream pipeline, a Russian-backed rival to EU's Nabucco project.

Regarding, Burgas-Alexandroupolis, he said Bulgaria has held two local referendums on the Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline construction. Borisov said difficulties with its implementation are related to environment protection problems. "We might probably study all the documents within a month," Borissov said referring to information about the implementation of Bulgarian-Russian common energy projects. "The Bulgarian public needs to be convinced that the project will benefit Bulgaria. We can work successfully on this, and you can consider me a partner, but we have to study the details," he said. In three months, when the Bulgarian-Russian commission will hold a sitting in Sofia, Bulgaria will have concrete position on all three projects, he was quoted as saying by the press.

Energy consultant Konstantin Simonov, director of the independent National Energy Security Fund in Moscow, told New Europe by phone on September 2 that Russia has alternatives to Bulgaria. "The position of Putin now is cleverer because his idea is very simple. He said to Borisov: ‘If you don't want to have South Stream - no problem. We will have cooperation with other countries," Simonov said, adding that Russia has alternatives following Turkey's agreement to allow South Stream to pass through its territorial waters and Romania's interest in the project.

Simonov reminded that, during Putin's talks with Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor on September 1 in Poland the latter suggested that South Stream should cross the territory of Croatia. "Brussels is speaking about South Stream as a danger, but a lot of countries in Balkan area say: ‘Okay, we want to see this gas,'" Simonov noted.

"Putin, after his visit to Turkey, has some arguments. He can say to Borisov: You don't want okay, we have Turkey; we have Romania, they want to see this project. If you don't want we well take you out of the list,'" the energy consultant said. "I don't know what will be the result of such policy and what will be the reaction of Borisov, but yesterday (September 1) he was not so brave in his dialogue with Putin and he said he doesn't have enough information about this project and he doesn't have enough information about the technical details of this project. In my opinion, it was Borisov's first declaration. Now he will be more accurate and, of course, domestic business will also press on him," Simonov said. Local observers told New Europe on September 5 that eventually Borisov would not succumb to pressure from the US or Russia, but would take Bulgarian interests into consideration.

Simonov said that South Stream poses no risk for Bulgaria because Bulgaria will not invest money but future profits and all risks will undertaken by Russian gas giant Gazprom and Italy's ENI company. "For Bulgaria it was a political decision and now Borisov will think what is better to have political profits from Brussels or maybe some money from Russia," Simonov said.

Regarding Burgas-Alexandroupolis, Simonov said Russian experts are having second thoughts about the economic viability of this project. During Putin's visit to Ankara, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan got Putin to declare Russia's support for the Samsun-Ceyhan oil pipeline, which will connect the Turkish Black Sea city of Samsun with its Mediterranean oil terminal of Ceyhan, thus bypassing the congested Bosporus Straits. Until now, Moscow had been promoting the other Bosporus-bypass option, the Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline which will run between Bulgaria and Greece.

"We see a change of policy or maybe a change of speeches," Simonov said. "Two years ago the position of Russia was to press on Bulgaria and to say: ‘Please sign these documents quickly, quickly, quickly.' Now we see a different position: ‘If you don't want it please tell us and we'll forget about Burgas-Alexandroupolis,'" he said. "Putin wants to use Turkey as an instrument of pressure to Bulgaria both in South Stream and Burgas-Alexandroupolis.

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