Energy is the darling economic sector of the Bulgarian authorities today. We are constantly seeing plenty of news about the sector. News is mainly about gas that is not used by the people but is important for the industry. For the time being in Bulgaria gas is mostly supplied by Russia, but energy ambitions run high. So no wonder this is the focus of an official letter mailed by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. The letter expresses the view of the European Commission on energy issues. These ambitions have prompted PM Boyko Borissov to call Russian President Vladimir Putin on the very next day. All this is quite logical for a couple of reasons.

In the first place, Bulgaria is member of the European Union and should have in mind the bloc's stance regarding Bulgarian energy projects. Though an EU member however, the country is strongly dependent on Russian energy supplies and equipment. Bulgaria's single N-plant is Russian, and a new nuclear reactor that has been commissioned is Russian. The country's one and only oil refinery is Russian and almost all natural gas comes from that country. This spells full dependence on Russia. In the meantime, affairs between Moscow and Brussels have not been running very smoothly recently. Sofia has already suffered some consequences when based on European requirements the much desired South Stream gas pipeline that was going to run through Bulgaria crashed and burned. Sofia had to kiss goodbye to its dreams of earning hefty transit fees from it.

It seems as though the European Commission has certain misgivings as to whether Bulgaria has learned its lesson which is the following - you can do whatever you wish but only under European rules. Indeed, Jean-Claude Juncker has clearly repeated this postulate in his letter to Boyko Borissov. So, Borissov has immediately called Putin to tell him that Brussels rules remain but have become a trifle looser. Being looser they open up a slim chance of implementing some old Bulgaria-Russia energy projects.

Where Sofia is concerned they are two. The first is Bulgaria's idea to build a regional gas hub to distribute gas to the countries in the Balkans and Southeast Europe. The problem however is that there is hardly anything to distribute in the wake of the South Stream failure. There is almost no local gas and gas connectors with neighboring countries are nonexistent which renders the idea inadequate. The second project is more advanced but for now frozen. This is the second Bulgarian N-plant at Belene on the Danube. The infrastructure is already in place and so far the project has cost 1 billion euro. One of the planned reactors has already been manufactured in Russia but Bulgaria has no cash to pay for it and is now wondering what to do with it. All the more so after an international court of arbitration has ruled that the country should pay 550 million euro to a Russian company. Let us remind you that the construction of the plant was suspended with a resolution of parliament. A key argument of the project's opponents was that it would be of no use to Bulgaria which generates enough electricity and even exports some of it.

Jean-Claude Juncker has under certain conditions given the green light to the energy projects of the Bulgarian government. Of course, everything should be aligned with the European requirements. At this point the Bulgarian government has to transform its ideas into economically viable projects and the European Union has even vowed readiness to provide financial support for them. The gas hub is more favored, while there are great reservations for the second N-plant and Bulgaria has been eyeing foreign investors with potential to complete the project.

What Borissov and Putin discussed over the phone is not yet clear from the short press releases issued by the Kremlin and Sofia alike. Based on all said so far however one can conclude that the two leaders had enough to talk about. So, it won't be surprising if the buried South Stream gas project is resurrected in a new version - with Bulgarian involvement and under European rules. All the more so that the pipes for the project have remained stored at Bulgarian ports.

English Daniela Konstantinova