In early July, state-owned Srbijagas signed a deal with Gazprom's subsidiary Centrgas for the section passing through its territory. But that is certainly not the end of the story. First, the work on South Stream in next-door Bulgaria is essentially suspended following the European Commission's intervention over a botched public tender. The project, which has caused a huge domestic controversy over the misuse of public funds and the role played by local oligarchs, could be restarted only after the early parliamentary elections on 5 October usher in a new cabinet. Second, the intergovernmental agreement (IGA) signed by Russia and Serbia back in 2008 is now being renegotiated by Brussels. The same is true for the IGAs with EU members Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Austria and Bulgaria. The issue at stake is Gazprom's insistence that it is eligible for an exception from EU rules on third-party access to gas grids – a key part of the famed Third Energy Package.