EU Must Find Alternatives to South Stream: European Commission Official

Vice President of the European Commissioner for Energy Union Sefcovic said in a statement that the EU should find alternatives to the South Stream gas pipeline project and complete crucial projects as soon as possible.

MOSCOW, December 9 (Sputnik) — Europe must look for alternatives to the recently cancelled South Stream project to ensure energy supplies, Maros Sefcovic, Vice President of the European Commissioner for Energy Union, said on Tuesday.

"We need to explore alternatives 2 #south stream 2 secure #energy supply. Crucial projects should be completed asap," Sefcovic said on his Twitter account.

I: We need to explore alternatives 2 #south stream 2 secure #energy supply.Crucial projects should be completed asap. pic.twitter.com/TSmfckDKPr

— Maroš Šefčovič (@MarosSefcovic) 9 декабря 2014

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia would abandon the South Stream project, designed to bring Russian natural gas to a number of EU countries via a new route under the Black Sea bypassing Ukraine.

The European Commission had long claimed that the pipeline was in breach of the European Union's Third Energy Package, which states that owning a pipeline and producing the gas that flows through it is an illegal conflict of interest.