The European Commission announced on January 28 2009 a proposed plan that will provide 20 million euro financing for an interconnection of the gas transmission networks of Bulgaria and Greece, and funding for a Bulgaria - Romania gas connection.

According to a statement on the EC website, other projects eligible for support include the Nabucco gas pipeline project connecting central Asian sources to Europe. Earmarked for this is 250 million euro, with a footnote saying that "this support may be channelled alongside European Investment Bank support".

It is not clear how the potential allocation for Nabucco is in accord with the statement on January 27 by European Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs that EU funds would not be made available for Nabucco. The European Investment Bank has indicated that it was prepared to make available financing for up to a quarter of the construction costs, conditional on governments involved in the project clarifying vital details.

The Bulgaria - Greece connection will be at Haskovo-Komotini.

The EC assistance arises from a decision in November 2008 to use budget savings to fund a wide range of endeavours to assist Europe's economic recovery. The plan includes using five billion euro in total to help the energy and internet broadband sectors.

An EC media statement said that the package of measures to assist the energy and internet broadband sectors would "deliver a much needed stimulus to the EU economy in the short term, while at the same time targeting strategic goals such as energy security".

All EU member states would benefit from the package of measures, the EC statement said.

Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said: "The EU's Recovery Plan is all about 'smart investment' - a short-term stimulus targeted on long-term goals.

"We need to learn the lessons of the recent gas crisis and invest heavily in energy. We also need to stimulate the European economy by providing information highways in rural communities. The EC is committed to working together with member states, all of whom will benefit from our proposed measures, in revitalising the EU economy through investment in these key areas," Barroso said.

The package includes a total of 3.5 billion euro proposed for investment in carbon capture and storage (financial envelope: 1.25 billion euro), offshore wind projects (500 million euro), and gas and electricity interconnection projects (1.75 billion).

The EC said that the challenge of energy security was highlighted in the EC's second strategic energy review of November 2008.

"Its significance was underlined still further by the recent gas crisis."

In the current economic and financial climate, projects are finding it particularly difficult to access investment. "EU support will put these projects back on track: they will help to plug the gaps in EU energy interconnections, and keep up the momentum to use the EU's domestic energy sources to best effect. The projects focus on cross-border needs and on the development of new technologies essential for Europe's future energy needs," the EC said.

"In order to ensure that the proposals can have an impact as quickly as possible, the Commission hopes that the (European) Council and the European Parliament can make swift progress on the discussion and adoption of the legislative measures. The Commission therefore hopes that normal procedures in the other institutions can be accelerated in order to deliver the package," the EC said.

On January 28, Bulgarian news agency BTA quoted the Economy and Energy Ministry as saying that the collated results of direct losses of companies in Bulgaria as a result of suspended gas supplies in January 2009 added up to 456 million leva.

The Economy and Energy Ministry estimate was based on figures from 386 enterprises, 325 of which had declared direct losses, and 252 indirect losses. 

The losses do not include the loss to the national budget from the suspended or decreased operations of the enterprises. Bearing in mind that the reduced production would negatively affect tax revenues in 2009 and 2010, the ministry said that the total losses for the economy would significantly exceed 500 million leva.