EU foresees less funds for Nabucco
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Hürriyet Daily News
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Mart 11, 2009 00:00
ISTANBUL - As the EU’s flagship Nabucco project faces financial problems, the European Commission drafts a plan for the union to allocate more funding elsewhere than initially planned, whereas less will be allocated to the Nabucco project
A European commission plan to spend 5 billion euros on clean energy projects and a broadband Internet-capable infrastructure has been redrafted. According to the new version, a number of countries will obtain more funding, at the expense of the European Union's flagship Nabucco pipeline project, Web site Euractiv reported.
Although a commission spokesperson strongly denied its existence, EurActiv has obtained the revised version of the "smart projects" plan. The document clearly shows that a number of countries will receive more funding than initially planned, whereas less will be allocated to the Nabucco project.
250 million euros had been earmarked for Nabucco in the initial proposal. That amount was not meant to fund the construction of the gas pipeline itself, but represented a risk-sharing facility to help secure loans from banks at better conditions than those offered on the market.
The sum allocated to Nabucco has now been downsized to 200 million euros, while several countries will receive more support than initially planned. Bulgaria and Greece will get 40 million euros instead of 20 million for the Haskovo-Komotini gas connection, while an expansion of gas storage capacity in the Czech Republic will get 35 million euros instead of 25 million.
The Nabucco pipeline, which is hoped to one day carry 30 billion cubic meters of Caspian or Middle Eastern gas annually to an Austrian hub via Turkey, is seen as one of Europe's best hopes for limiting its dependence on Russian gas.
Negotiations continue
According to the new draft, infrastructure to allow reverse gas flows in the event of disruptions in 12 EU countries will receive 75 million euros instead of 20. France will be given more money to reinforce its network as part of an Africa-Spain-France axis, and a France-Belgium connection will receive 200 million euros instead of the 100 million as initially planned.
In total, the new financial rescue blueprint provides 3.75 billion euros for energy projects, compared to 3.5 billion in the earlier version. The difference between the new version and the original proposal is expected to be bridged using 500 million euros, originally earmarked for tackling new agricultural challenges, such as climate change, renewable energy, water management and restructuring the dairy industry.
The commission would not comment in detail, with a spokesperson saying only that negotiations were still ongoing. A representative of the Czech EU presidency described the EU executive's proposals as "already old," but acknowledged that the new plan is the version under discussion at present.
The EU funding of Nabucco was previously put into question by German Chancellor Angela Merkel who strongly opposed subsidizing Nabucco with European public funds, and stressed that the problem was not financing, but finding the gas.
Although a commission spokesperson strongly denied its existence, EurActiv has obtained the revised version of the "smart projects" plan. The document clearly shows that a number of countries will receive more funding than initially planned, whereas less will be allocated to the Nabucco project.
250 million euros had been earmarked for Nabucco in the initial proposal. That amount was not meant to fund the construction of the gas pipeline itself, but represented a risk-sharing facility to help secure loans from banks at better conditions than those offered on the market.
The sum allocated to Nabucco has now been downsized to 200 million euros, while several countries will receive more support than initially planned. Bulgaria and Greece will get 40 million euros instead of 20 million for the Haskovo-Komotini gas connection, while an expansion of gas storage capacity in the Czech Republic will get 35 million euros instead of 25 million.
The Nabucco pipeline, which is hoped to one day carry 30 billion cubic meters of Caspian or Middle Eastern gas annually to an Austrian hub via Turkey, is seen as one of Europe's best hopes for limiting its dependence on Russian gas.
Negotiations continue
According to the new draft, infrastructure to allow reverse gas flows in the event of disruptions in 12 EU countries will receive 75 million euros instead of 20. France will be given more money to reinforce its network as part of an Africa-Spain-France axis, and a France-Belgium connection will receive 200 million euros instead of the 100 million as initially planned.
In total, the new financial rescue blueprint provides 3.75 billion euros for energy projects, compared to 3.5 billion in the earlier version. The difference between the new version and the original proposal is expected to be bridged using 500 million euros, originally earmarked for tackling new agricultural challenges, such as climate change, renewable energy, water management and restructuring the dairy industry.
The commission would not comment in detail, with a spokesperson saying only that negotiations were still ongoing. A representative of the Czech EU presidency described the EU executive's proposals as "already old," but acknowledged that the new plan is the version under discussion at present.
The EU funding of Nabucco was previously put into question by German Chancellor Angela Merkel who strongly opposed subsidizing Nabucco with European public funds, and stressed that the problem was not financing, but finding the gas.