THE GAS crisis has prompted Bulgaria, which suffered the worst energy shortages, to consider cutting its dependence on Russian gas.
It has also led many Bulgarians to question their close ties with Moscow.
The country, which relies on Russia for 100 per cent of its supplies, has been shaken by a cut-off that left millions with little or no gas in their homes, offices and factories.
“It has been an eye-opener for Bulgarians,” said Ilian Vassilev, a former Bulgarian ambassador to the Russian Federation.
“The political class assumed that Russia would automatically take care of gas supplies.
“People are going to be angry very soon.” The reaction could raise questions about Moscow’s political strategy in Bulgaria, which has long been Russia’s closest ally in the European Union.
But elsewhere in southeast Europe, which generally has good relations with Russia, the fallout has been more limited, not least because the supply disruption was less severe.
Bulgaria’s government yesterday declared plans to ask for EU financial aid to help diversify energy supplies away from Russia.
Energy minister Petar Dimitrov said: “It’s clear we must urgently build links with our neighbours.”
Bulgaria planned to ask Brussels for €400 million of emergency funding to build two new pipelines to Romania and Greece.
Prime minister Sergey Stanishev yesterday pledged to follow Slovakia in planning to reopen a Soviet-era nuclear reactor closed on EU orders as a condition of accession. Public anger against Russia was highlighted by the burning of the country’s flag outside its consulate in the Black Sea port of Varna last week.
Russia’s position seemed more secure in Serbia, another long-standing ally. Srbijagas, the state-run gas distributor, said it might sue Ukraine over the cuts. The Association of Employers, which estimates business has lost €20 million, attacked local energy officials for failing to store bigger gas reserves.
“Given turbulence like this, those responsible should resign, and the public prosecutor should start criminal investigations,” it said.
Public anti-Moscow anger has been limited to Kragujevac, where residents burned a Russian flag last week. There is no questioning of an energy deal signed with Moscow in December in which the cash-strapped government sold 51 per cent of the state oil distribution monopoly, NIS, to Gazprom for €400 million in return for promises of steady, cheap gas via Russia’s planned Southstream gas pipeline.
In Greece, gas users are in a comfortable position and are not seeking to apportion blame.
The country went into the crisis with three months’ stocks and two alternative supply sources – the Turkish-Greek pipeline that opened officially 18 months ago and a storage terminal for liquified natural gas near Athens supplied with LNG from Algeria.
In Hungary, the Russia-friendly socialist government took comfort from the country's ability to meet household demand from domestic gas production. – ( Financial Times)