Reuters: Austria hopes EU objections to South Stream resolved in next month
Austria is hoping differences with the European Commission over the South Stream pipeline project can be resolved in the next month or so, allowing the plan to move ahead, Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz said on Friday.
Plans to build the $40 billion pipeline carrying enough Russian gas to meet almost 15 pecent of European demand while bypassing Ukraine have divided EU member states and run into opposition from the Commission.
The European Union had effectively put the pipeline project on ice after Moscow's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean peninsular, and was already in dispute with Gazprom over its refusal to allow other producers to use the pipeline, which would breach the EU's energy market competition laws.
Asked about the EU's concerns Kurz said: "There are some open questions with the Commission... We are hoping we will have the opportunity to clarify them over the next month and then no obstacles will stand in the way. I think this is possible."