Bulgarian authorities snapped in the direction of Russia
The former “sixteenth” Republic of the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, as it was once called, decided to show Russia its small and sharp teeth, unexpectedly refusing to participate in the previously signed contract for the construction of the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline. Recall that in the 2007 year, Bulgaria, Greece and Russia signed agreements on the fact that Russian tankers will supply oil to the Bulgarian port of Burgas, and from there hydrocarbon rivers will flow along the pipeline towards Greece and further across Europe. 51% of financial liabilities belonged to Russian companies, and 49% were shared between Bulgarian and Greek businessmen. The length of the pipeline was supposed to be about 280 kilometers, and its main purpose was unloading the Turkish Bosporus and Dardanelles, which barely have time to let vessels loaded with oil under the string.
However, the pre-crisis 2007 year remained far behind. In Bulgaria, the government managed to change, and now instead of Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev, who once studied in Moscow, the government of the Bulgarian Republic is headed by the leader of the right-wing party, Boyko Borisov. Apparently, Mr. Borisov decided that the time had come to divert the attention of the Bulgarian people from internal economic turmoil and try to find a new dominant for the possible expression of popular anger. For natural reasons, Borisov's attention shifted neither to his colleagues in the European Union, otherwise the chair under him could quickly lurch, but to Russian partners.
As indicated by Russian experts, the Bulgarian authorities began to look for opportunities to escape from obligations to implement a joint project with Russia immediately after the right-wing came to power. As soon as Europe was hit by the first crisis wave, the Bulgarians began to actively indicate that the country's economy could “not pull” a project like “Burgas-Alexandroupolis”. However, the Russian side was actually ready to take the costs of the Bulgarian side for a certain period of time on itself. But this did not impress the Bulgarian leadership either. The Ministry of Tourism of the Bulgarian Republic immediately heard the words that the pipeline could cause irreparable damage to the recreational zone on the Black Sea coast. At the initiative of Russian businessmen and authorities, a multilateral commission was created, which immediately began the next stage of research into the possible negative impact of the pipeline on the environmental situation in the region. Without exception, all members of the established multilateral commission concluded that the “pipe” would not bring any harm to the environment, if, of course, it complied with all the norms for its operation.
In the end, the Bulgarian authorities decided to refuse to participate in the project, citing the fact that, they say, there is no money in the treasury for such projects, and when they appear, we don’t know either. At the same time, Greece, the economic situation in which is much worse than in Bulgaria, does not refuse to participate in the project to build an oil pipeline.
Based on this information, with high probability we can say that the Bulgarian authorities are driven solely by politics. Refusing to participate in a joint project with Russia, Bulgaria continues to actively participate in energy projects with other countries. At the same time, the Bulgarian authorities do not say any words about the lack of funds. Examples of participation in other joint projects include ITGI, which includes Turkey, as well as Nabucco. It turns out that Mr. Borisov decided ineptly to veil his political demarche against Russia by economic considerations.
Surprisingly, for the current Bulgarian authorities, Turkey has become a much more desirable partner than Russia, which historically has always been on the side of the fraternal Bulgarian people. It is generally difficult to imagine the motivation of the right-wing authorities of Bulgaria regarding the rapprochement with Turkey and the distance from Russia. Every sensible Bulgarian citizen understands that such a concept as “Turkish-Bulgarian friendship” looks rather unintelligible. Rallying with historical the enemy against his historical ally is nothing but the stupidity of the Bulgarian authorities.
However, many experts in both Russia and Bulgaria are inclined to believe that the refusal to participate in a mutually beneficial joint project with the Russian Federation is only a temporary situation, associated exclusively with attempts to add weight to the eyes of the Western sponsors of the current Bulgarian authorities. But the difficulty for the Bulgarian leadership is that the implementation of the construction of the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline is a substantial investment from Russia, thousands of jobs, long-term contracts. Therefore, the leadership of Bulgaria, in fact, itself provokes a manifestation of popular disapproval, as well as the continuation of tightening the economic funnel, which the current Bulgarian government can simply bury. And here, no Turkey will help. It is necessary to them the Turks ...
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