Vice-President Šefčovič speaks to Russian Energy Minister Novak on South Stream -project

As a follow-up to the meeting on Tuesday 9 December between Vice-President Šefčovič and representatives from Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Romania and Slovenia, Vice-President has today contacted Russian Minister for Energy, Alexander Novak to discuss with him the Russian plans as regards the South Stream Project. Minister Novak confirmed to Vice-President Šefčovič that the South Stream Project would no longer be pursued by Russia.

Vice-President Šefčovič will in early 2015 present a proposal concerning the organisational structure for the High Level Working Group, as established at the meeting on Tuesday, and believes that thanks to the joint effort the High Level Working Group will start delivering positive results very soon. “We will now intensify our work with the Member States of the Central Eastern Europe and South-East Europe on the interconnection of the European markets and diversification of gas supplies. These are the objectives of the future Energy Union, which is a priority of the new Commission” Vice-President said.