The South Stream agreement has been signed
Adelina Marini, May 15, 2009
The agreements with the gas companies of Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia for the construction of the "South Stream" pipeline have been signed a while ago in Sochi, ITAR-TASS news agency reported. Beside this Gazprom signed with the Italian company ENI a second annex to the Memorandum for cooperation, agreed in 2007. The second annex is related to the further phasing of the construction of "South Stream" and for an increase of the annual gas supply from 31 to 63 bn euro. The document has been signed in the presence of the prime ministers of Russia and Italy - Vladimir Putin and Silvio Berlusconi.
"I think that this is our combined contribution with Italy, Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia, to the European security", said the Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin, quoted by ITAR-TASS. Berlusconi and Putin agreed that "South Stream" doesn't increase Europe's dependency from Russia. The words of the Italian prime minister were more than eloquent: "I think that we could consider our country as a happy one, receiving energy from a friendly country - Russia, which never violates its obligations", said Silvio Berlusconi.
Dalia Grybauskaite | © MSC/Koerner
Maros Sefcovic, Miguel Arias Canete | © European Commission
Jean-Claude Juncker, Boyko Borissov | © European Commission