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By Makis Georghiou
The Greek energy minister has been trying to justify his decision to turn against a Cypriot company that is building the Israel-Cyprus-Greece electricity cable, by delivering several excuses, which are baseless and probably dictated by the transmission system operator ADMIE, that wants part of the project.
Last week’s initial announcement of a ‘breakthrough’ in the Crete-Attica electricity cable deadlock emulated the same tone used over the past 12 months by the previous Syriza administration and the Chinese-controlled TSO that wants to build the cable for reasons of its own.
The announcement tried to point a finger at the EuroAsia Interconnector, the EC-approved project promoter of the €3.5 bln electricity link, that until a year ago, enjoyed the blessing of all successive Greek governments since it was conceived in 2012 and inducted into the European Union’s Projects of Common Interest (PCI) programme for major infrastructure works.
The ministry hinted the Cyprus-based company had been uncooperative in reaching a compromise deal, justifying its decision to declare the Crete-Attica interconnector a ‘national’ project.
It did say it would help end Cyprus’ energy isolation as the last non-interconnected EU member state, by affording the PCI designation to the remaining Crete-Cyprus and Cyprus-Israel links.
In statements to the Cyprus News Agency on Thursday, Energy Minister Kostis Hatzidakis said Greece will provide “strong political support” to designate two legs of the Israel-Cyprus-Greece electricity cable as a European PCI project.
The Minister of Environment and Energy explained that his government decided to proceed with the Crete-Attica electricity interconnection as a ‘national’ project, despite the contrary opinion of the Cypriot side, because “Greece had to make a difficult decision, given that there is a particular need for the long-term efficiency of Crete’s energy supply, in a cost-efficient manner”.
Hatzidakis said, the Greek government “could not risk any delay as regards Crete’s electricity interconnection to the mainland”.
Despite Greece and Cyprus’ efforts to implement the project as a single one, in the context of Greece-Cyprus-Israel electricity interconnection, “the proposals presented were not mature yet”, the Minister argued.
Hatzidakis’ comments about ‘immaturity’ should be addressed to himself, and not to the EuroAsia project that has been supported by all Greek governments since 2012.
The Crete-Attica interconnector has been taken away from the Cypriot firm and handed to a Chinese-controlled company on a silver plate, and the minister is trying to justify the unreasonable.
Robbing EuroAsia of what was rightfully theirs, and giving it to the partly-privatised ADMIE, will take longer to build, will cost more and will burden the Greek taxpayer by about €700 mln more. And Hatzidakis has known about this all along.
What is ironic, is that Hatzidakis has green-lighted the decision of the previous Syriza government to develop the Crete-Attica interconnection as a ‘national’ project, which the then-opposition New Democracy MPs had been viciously critical of. What has changed in the meantime?
Equally unconvincing were comments by Cypriot energy minister Yiorgos Lakkotrypis, who also went out of his way to justify his Greek counterpart’s decision.
Asked to respond to Hatzidakis’ comments, Lakkotrypis said on Friday that the Cypriot side has made an effort to keep the EuroAsia Interconnector as a single project, that is the three sections of Israel-Cyprus, Cyprus-Crete and Crete-Attica to remain as a unified project of common interest.
He said the Greek side decided that it wanted to keep the Crete-Attica section as ‘national’ and did not need any funding, exactly as was said by the Energy Minister of Greece, due to the “urgency regarding the energy security of Crete.”
“Our priorities were first, to maintain the Israel-Cyprus section and Cyprus-Crete as an EU project of common interest, to be eligible to get funding, something which we achieved with the latest list [of PCIs] and also, secondly, equally important was to ensure the interoperability of the two cables.”
Lakkotrypis said, “the cable from Israel to Cyprus and Crete will be compatible with the one from Crete to Attica, and in this direction, technical discussions are underway, and I must say there is a willingness from the Greek side to achieve this.”
His optimism was not shared by Hatzidakis’ statement that “any issue regarding the interoperability of the two [cable] systems from Crete to Cyprus will be resolved following the relevant consultations – if and when the matter arises – between the competent electricity transmission system operators of the two countries, on the basis of the framework of the existing EU regulation.”
Perhaps, Lakkotrypis had not realised that the project in its entirety was never Greek, to begin with, hence raising the question of how Athens could ‘keep’ something which is not theirs.
Furthermore, it is also strange that no one in Cyprus could counter Hatzidakis’ comment about energy security for Crete.
EuroAsia has argued all along that it could deliver quicker and at a lower cost, thus not burdening Greek consumers and taxpayers any further.
As a result, the European Commission, clearly disturbed by Athens’ about-face and refusal to conform with EU agreements on the matter, including the two sections of Cyprus-Israel and Cyprus-Crete on the new Union list of PCIs, making them eligible for low-cost funding from the “Connecting Europe Facility”, something which Greece has deprived itself for the Crete-Attica link.
Sources at EuroAsia Interconnector suggest that its project is going ahead as planned.
Perhaps Brussels ought to reconsider starting infringement procedures against Greece for violating EC agreements and regulations, as was intended earlier, but put aside when the new government in Athens showed signs of cooperation, or so it seemed.
KINAL deputy Vassilis Kengeroglou, worried that his constituency in Crete is at risk of energy isolation and lack of supply, questioned Minister Hatzidakis’ decision in parliament, demanding that the electricity interconnection to Crete be secured in the next few years.
“The previous SYRIZANEL government implemented an ineffective energy policy, which in fact, because of its ideological views, rejected the ready-made project it had received, effectively leading the energy sector to a dead end.”
“A striking example is the energy interconnection of Crete, which since 2013 had been included as a sub-project to the Israel-Cyprus-Attica interconnection funded by the Projects of Common Interest (PCI) initiative, for which the SYRIZANEL government decided to delist from the PCIs, with no justification, as a result of which our country lost all the provisioned EU funding.
“Today, six years later, the New Democracy government continues to follow the wrong choice of the former government which is very costly for our country and leads Cyprus to electrical isolation,” Kengeroglou said.
The writer is a regular columnist on energy, geopolitical and maritime affairs
