The European Union said Serbia needs to get in line with regional energy regulations, notably as they relate to the Russian-backed South Stream gas pipeline. Belgrade and Brussels begin formal discussion on accession in January. In a status report, the EU said the Serbian government has made progress in aligning itself with European governance, but it’s lacking in key foreign policy and economic areas. “Serbia needs to step up its efforts towards alignment with the EU acquis in particular in the fields of energy -- including on the South Stream gas pipeline,” it said on October 8. Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic met with Russian officials in Moscow last week to discuss South Stream, which Russia views as a means to diversify a gas transit network bypassing Ukraine. Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said it “makes no sense” to start construction of the South Stream gas pipeline without an agreement on its legal status between Russia and the EU. Ukraine hosts more than half of all Russian natural gas bound for European markets. With Europe concerned over not only the crisis in Ukraine, but also the role of state-controlled companies like Russian gas monopoly Gazprom, Dacic said lingering questions over South Stream should “be settled between Russia and Brussels”. “It’s a matter of political agreements,” he said in Moscow. Dacic reaffirmed Belgrade’s commitment to the project. “Everything is fine with the South Stream. We are ready to build it. All preparatory works are running as planned,” he said. European Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger in June said South Stream should be put on hold because it’s not in compliance with legislation passed in the EU. Last month, members of the European Parliament passed a resolution calling on “EU countries to cancel planned energy sector agreements with Russia, including the South Stream gas pipeline”. European regulators in February ruled Serbia hasn’t taken the steps necessary to keep natural gas suppliers out of the pipeline transit sector. The South Stream pipeline route is expected to come ashore in Bulgaria and continue to Serbia, where it is to split in two, with the first branch going through Hungary to Austria and the second through Hungary and Slovenia to Italy. Under the plan, branches are also to be constructed in Croatia and the Bosnian Serb Republic. Intergovernmental agreements were earlier signed with Serbia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Greece, Slovenia, Austria and Croatia in order to implement the construction of the pipeline’s onshore sections.
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