SOFIA, December 8 /TASS/. Bulgaria is going to demand from the European Commission permission to go ahead with the South Stream gas project, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borisov told the Bulgarian parliament on Monday.

“I still believe that the South Stream (pipeline) should run through the territory of Bulgaria because it is useful for the country. Indirect revenues from the project will be higher that transit taxes worth €400 million,” Borisov told the parliament’s emergency session. He also said that Vice-Premier Tomislav Donchev and Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova would head for Brussels on Tuesday.

“We are going to insist that South Stream continue with observation of European rules,” the Bulgarian prime minister said.

Borisov called the Gazprom-proposed draft of a long-term contract as ill-balanced because it contained provisions which were extremely unfavorable for Bulgaria as a shareholder. The document has not been signed.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said during a visit to Ankara, Turkey, last week that Russia could not go ahead with the South Stream project because Bulgaria had refused to allow the laying of the gas pipeline in its territory. Gazprom’s Chief Alexey Miller declared the project to be closed. Instead of building a gas pipeline with a capacity of 63 billion cubic meters via the territories of Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary and Slovenia, a pipeline of the same capacity will run through Turkey up to the border with Greece where an oil hub may be created.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said after meeting Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borisov on December 4 that the South Stream project would hopefully be reanimated and implemented.