An employee checks a pipe at the construction site of a gas metering station, part of the pipeline link between Bulgaria and Greece near the village of the Malko Kadievo, on March 18, 2022. – EU member Bulgaria has been criticised for its almost total dependence on Russia for its annual consumption of about three billion cubic metres of gas. In a bid to secure alternative deliveries, the Balkan country had long planned to link its gas network to those of its neighbours — Greece, Serbia and Romania — but the projects were severely delayed by administrative hurdles. (Photo by Nikolay DOYCHINOV / AFP)