Brussels, 13/05/2003 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday, as announced yesterday, with the forthcoming informal meeting on the energy partnership between the EU and Mediterranean countries (20-21 May), the European Commission adopted a communication on enlarging the internal EU energy market and enhancing security of energy supply for oil, gas and electricity. This communication primarily addresses Russia, the Ukraine, South East Europe, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and countries that are part of the Barcelona Process and the Nordic Dimension.
This "enlarged" market is expected to be based on similar market access levels, common environmental and safety standards for the nuclear sector, modernisation of energy systems in EU neighbouring countries and the setting up of additional infrastructures to link them with the Union. With this objective, the communication proposes: 1) the revision of guidelines on Trans-European energy networks (TEN-E) to update the list of priority projects and set up new infrastructure projects to benefit from Community funding (the Commission "envisages" the presentation this year of a new communication on European energy infrastructures); 2) the revision of different kinds of support for TEN-E to help with a contribution to costs involved in insuring against political risks; 3) the implementation of a coordination mechanism between the different Community instruments for supporting infrastructure projects and the setting up of a global financial instrument for energy infrastructures; 4) more active use of the Galileo satellite navigation system for monitoring and managing projects.
The communication draws up a list of priority infrastructure projects that should be able to benefit from Community support. Electricity sector: increase in the interconnection linking the continental European electricity network with that in Russia; reconnection of the electricity systems in Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina; strengthening capacity for electricity connections between Morocco and Spain, Greece and Turkey; creation of interconnection between Algeria and Spain, Italy and Tunisia. Gas sector: pipeline project for transporting Russian gas from Saint Petersburg by going under the Baltic Sea to the north of Germany; links between France and Spain to Algeria to set up second ""Medgas"; links between Algeria to Italy and France via Sardinia; gas pipeline through Turkey-Bulgaria-Romania-Hungary-Austria; gas pipeline in Greece, FYROM, Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia; pipeline between Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey. Oil sector: strengthen Durzhba pipeline and extend Odessa-Body pipeline in the Black Sea.