Brussels, 09/04/2015 (Agence Europe) - Greece and Hungary officially declared their interest on Tuesday 7 April in the proposed new Turkish-Russian gas pipeline, Turkish Stream, that will pass under the Black Sea.
In Budapest on Tuesday, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias and his Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto, along with their opposite numbers from the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Serbia and Turkey, added their names to a political declaration of support for the Turkish Stream proposal. The statement, carried by several media outlets, says the ministers expressed “support … to create a commercially viable option of route and source diversification for delivering natural gas from the Republic of Turkey through the territories of [their] countries to the countries of Central and South Eastern Europe”. They also call on the EU to help fund related infrastructure, expressing the view that Turkish Stream “would … make a significant contribution to the overall energy security of Europe and must therefore be a common responsibility of the European Union”.
During his visit to Moscow on Wednesday 8 April, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras indicated to Russian President Vladimir Putin that Greece wanted to be part of the Turkish Stream, a project seen by Athens as a possible route for the supply of Russian gas to the south of Europe.
Asked by the press for a reaction on Thursday 9 April, the European Commission said it did not wish to comment on “speculation” over possible Russian funding of the Turkish Stream project in Greece.
However, it did say that it had taken note of the Budapest declaration, stating that it had attended the meeting as an observer. “We believe it is crucial to diversify supply sources in that region”, commented Anna-Kaisa Itkonen, the Commission spokesperson for energy matters, pointing out that, in February of this year, the Commission had set up the High-Level Group on Central and South-Eastern Europe Gas Connectivity (CESEC). Bringing together Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia, CESEC is due to hold its second meeting in Croatia in June, following the one in Sofia in February (see EUROPE 11249).
As for the announcement by Russia of construction of Turkish Stream, “the Commission is currently analysing the information received”, Itkonen said. “We are examining the regulatory, legal, technical and financial feasibility of the project. We expect all parties to comply with EU rules, including with regard to market access and calls for tender, and we consider that obligations resulting from existing contracts must also be met”, she stated (our translation).
Following on from the Russian announcement at the start of December 2014 that it was cancelling the South Stream gas pipeline project that was to carry gas to south-eastern Europe, linking Russia and Bulgaria by a pipeline running under the Black Sea, Russian gas giant Gazprom and Turkish gas group Botas signed a memorandum of understanding for the construction of an alternative gas pipeline, Turkish Stream. With a projected annual capacity of 63 billion m3, Turkish Stream could supply 16 billion m3 of gas per year to Turkey and deliver 47 billion m3 of gas to the Greek-Turkish border to supply the European Market. (Emmanuel Hagry)