"Europe will beg for South Stream to be built"

"Europe will beg for South Stream to be built"

Vuletić believes the announcements was "the Russian side's tactic," after which Europe will "go to its knees and beg that South Stream is built - because Europe is hungry for gas."

He believes that the pipeline will eventually be built because it is needed by European consumers, and noted that only last year the demand for Russian gas in Europe increased 16 percent compared to 2012.

Vuletić also criticized as "frivolous" the different approach and treatment of some countries and EU institutions towards South Stream compared with other pipelines, including TAP, which is exempt from the Third Energy Package.

Balkan Magazine editor-in-chief Jelica Putniković noted in her reaction to the news that Germany secured alternative gas routes for itself and its western European allies via the Nord Stream pipeline, while Serbia and the Balkan countries now depend on the outcome of political games played by powerful countries.

"Besides losing the possibility to have energy security when it comes to gas supplies, Serbia is also losing an investment that was supposed to give a part of our construction industry jobs," she said, and noted that an official explanation from Moscow was still awaited - considering the building of the pipeline in Serbia was a part of an inter-state oil and gas agreement.

Russia's decision to scrap the project will have an impact on Serbia, Putniković said, especially considering the country will be left without an alternative to supplies via Ukraine, where the situation is uncertain. With that, Serbia will have no security in the event of a new gas crisis.

Besides, a new pipeline that would go from Turkey toward Europe in order to replace Ukrainian transits would also have to be built in EU countries' territories, "so it remains to be seen if and when it will be built," she said.

"If Russians are serious with the statement that they are giving up on South Stream, then Serbia, and also Hungary, which recently changed laws to enable for the construction of the pipeline, will have been played and will be collateral damage in the quarrel between Brussels and Moscow," she added.

Economic analyst Mahmut Busatlija believes that Serbia will "indirectly" find it more difficult to attract new investors now due to a lack of access to energy, especially when it comes to industries.

He noted that Serbia will lose because it was planned for Russia to finance the building of South stream, and while Serbia will likely have a chance to join the pipeline that will go to the Greek border, it would have to do so using its own money.

"If the Russians agreed with Turkey for the pipeline to go through their territory then we, but not only we - all those who waited for that pipeline, such as Bulgaria, Hungary, Austria - are not needed," Busatlija said.

He also thinks Serbia has no right to any kind of compensation, because South Stream is not mentioned in the NIS sale contract, and added that Serbia "did not behave like one behaves in good business practices."

The 2008 inter-state agreement between Serbia and Russia included the building of South Stream, the sale of NIS to Gazprom Neft without a tender, and the building of a joint gas storage facility in Banatski Dvor.