Serbia is paying a high economic and political price for its big expectations from the South Stream project, political analyst Dušan Janjić tells our radio.

Russia’s renouncing the construction of the South Stream gas line and announcing the building of a gas line through Turkey is news that has been met in Serbia with fear and launched numerous questions and dilemmas. Was it possible to anticipate someething like that and mitigate its effects in advance?

Commenting on the latest events regarding the South Stream gas line, Janjić says Serbia had big and somewhat unrealistic expectations from that project, for the sake of which it has also renounced some EU requirements and, to some extent, Serbia’s economic policy was based on gratitude for the Russian stand to the Kosovo issue. However, in a situation when Russian interests were threatened, Moscow showed another face, he says. In his opinion, the stopping of the South Stream already represents a public announcement that serious trade has been reached through Turkey and Germany, and with the USA at that, so it is not just about the gas business, this is also related to Kosovo and Serbia’s political fate. In that situation, says Janjić, the Serbian president and PM should find a way to save the investments already commenced in Serbia and to stop the chain of excessive expectations of companies that have begun preparing for certain activities on the South Stream assembly in advance, which activities were to have started in two months. Instead of the South Stream gas liine, another project, which might represent a mix of South Stream and the Nabucco project might be realized, which project could benefit mostly Turkish, German and Azerbaijani companies, says Janjić.

Guided by this situation, Serbia has to turn towards itself in the next thirty years and deal with gasification issues, says Janjić, adding that not much progress has been made in that process. Our demands for gas are such that they can be met without problems also by having the money paid to the Russian side refunded and redirected, stresses Janjić. After talks between Serbian President Tomislav Nikolić and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the two prime ministers will discuss what will happen with the money already paid in advance for some works.

On Sunday, Serbian President Tomislav Nikolić told Russian President Vladimir Putin over the telephone that stopping the South Stream would reflect on Serbia’s energy stability and expressed hope that such a decision is not final. Its effects would be far-reaching and would negatively reflect on our economy, emphasized Nikolić.