SOFIA, Bulgaria, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- The Bulgarian government is practicing a policy of isolation by its move away from the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline, a Greek official said.
Bulgaria in 2007 signed an agreement with Russia and Greece to build the 174-mile oil pipeline to bypass crowded waterways near Turkey by crossing an overland route to the Aegean Sea.
In December 2009, Sofia said the terms of the Burgas-Alexandroupolis contract wouldn't deliver an economic benefit and Boyko Borisov, the country's prime minister, said during the summer that he was "giving up" on the oil pipeline.
Bulgarian environmental officials, meanwhile, said the environmental impact assessment of the pipeline wasn't satisfactory.
Greek Deputy Prime Minister Theodoros Pangalos was quoted by the Sofia News Agency as saying Bulgaria was moving in the wrong direction with the pipeline.
"The Bulgarian leadership should realize that it is against the interest of the Bulgarian people to adopt a policy that isolates the country," he was quoted as saying.
In June, Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko said delays from Sofia were creating problems for the pipeline, describing the project as "practically suspended."
