EU ‘will do everything it can’ for interconnector

The European Commission will “continue to do everything it can” to promote the planned Great Sea Interconnector project, European energy commissioner Dan Jorgensen said on Thursday. He was speaking to the Cyprus News Agency after a meeting with the energy ministers of Cyprus and Greece, George Papanastasiou and Stavros Papastavrou, over the project, which, if completed, will connect the electricity grids of Cyprus, Greece, and Israel, and described that meeting as “productive”. “We discussed key energy initiatives, such as the Great Sea Interconnector, a project which the EU strongly supports,” he said, before making reference to the “energy highways” mentioned by European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen during her “state of the European Union” address in September. Those “energy highways”, he said, “include the electrical interconnection of Cyprus with mainland Europe, thus ending the island’s electricity isolation”. “The European Commission will continue to do everything it can to promote this project. I look forward to continuing to work with Greece and Cyprus to make it a reality … Better and enhanced interconnection is essential for the EU, to lower energy prices for people and businesses and to secure our energy independence,” he said. His comments came after the governments of Cyprus and Greece had agreed to “update the economic and technical parameters” of the project during an intergovernmental summit in Athens on Wednesday. Papanastasiou explained later on Wednesday night that this would include an update to the project’s feasibility studies. “We have concluded that the … project must undergo an update, even in the financial aspect. The most important parameter of this study is to attract strong investors, who will have the ability to implement the project, so that the challenges surrounding the financial and possibly the technical aspects are sustainable,” he said. He added that “with this logic, we are moving in the direction” of a new feasibility study, “so as to integrate the techno-economic aspect into the new environment, which aims to find strong players and funds which will be able to financially strengthen the project”. Papastavrou, too, said the plans for a new feasibility study and updated “economic and technical parameters” are now afoot “in view of the potential investment interest”. “We highlighted the need for Europe to move quickly, to strengthen interconnection projects, and to further de-escalate the price of energy for households and businesses,” he said. Earlier in the day, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said the move will allow the project to be “strengthened with the entry of new, strong investors, which is to the benefit of all of us”. Meanwhile, Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides said the two countries are “moving forward in full coordination in expanding our mutual and regional energy cooperation and interconnectivity”. “I will agree with Mitsotakis that our common goal is to take essential actions for the effective implementation of projects which will have tangible economic benefits as well as a geopolitical footprint, and it is precisely in this context that we have agreed with [Mitsotakis] to update the economic and technical parameters,” he said. Opening the project to further investment may soothe the rift between the Cypriot and Greek governments which has been rumbling for months over the Cypriot government’s initial agreement to make five annual payments of €25 million to Greece’s independent transmission system operator Admie for the project. The payments would be made in advance of the project’s completion, and ould in effect help finance the project and ensure that Admie, its 51 per cent shareholder and implementing body, will have a stable income while investing in the project before it turns a profit. However, the Cypriot government has thus far withheld the funds, cited a lack of tangible progress on the project and differences in opinion regarding how the money should be sourced as its reasons behind not paying the money. Cypriot Energy Minister George Papanastasiou had said in September that Cyprus will pay the first €25m instalment when the project is being “implemented in its entirety”, and that the construction of cables alone is “not enough” to meet this criterion. Differences between the two governments became further entrenched Cypriot Finance Minister Makis Keravnos accused Papastavrou of “fake news” over the matter, with Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis calling for clarity regarding Cyprus’ position the following day. Keravnos’ comments had come after Papastavrou had said that he “does not show” the studies which he claimed demonstrate the project is not sustainable. In response, he said the studies had been commissioned by Papanastasiou, that they were “properly delivered” to the Greek energy ministry, and that they had even been sent to Papastavrou’s predecessor Theodoros Skylakakis. Papastavrou had previously decried what he described as “constantly conflicting messages from the Cypriot side” over the matter. In more positive news for the interconnector, Papanastasiou attended a ‘3+1’ meeting of the energy ministers of Cyprus, Greece, Israel, and the United States last week, where the four ministers present – Papanastasiou, Papastavrou, Eli Cohen of Israel, and Chris Wright of the US, had also made reference to electrical interconnection projects. The four had committed to “use the 3+1 format to support the goal of diversifying the region’s energy supplies by reducing reliance on malign actors and improving connectivity between likeminded regional partners”, with the statement also declaring their aim to meet again in Washington DC between April and June next year.