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| Nabucco should be a EU priority, Bulgaria says | ||
| Friday, Dec 03, 2010 | ||
| Bulgaria urged the EU on Tuesday (November 30th) to allow member states involved in the Nabucco gas pipeline to leave the bank guarantees they will have to provide out of their budget deficits to demonstrate that it truly considers it a key project for the Union. Sofia has always cited Nabucco as one of its priorities, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said at the opening of a conference on the energy sector in Southeast Europe. "But, I have many, many remarks on the speed of work and on its actual, real position as a priority for the EU," he said. "My proposal is that the bank guarantees member states in Nabucco will give to the European Investment Bank, or the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development ... be written off the deficits of these countries." The 8-billion-euro pipeline is a flagship project in the EU's Southern Gas Corridor initiative, and is aimed at reducing the 27-nation bloc's dependence on Russian supplies. It will run from eastern Turkey to the Baumgarten gas hub in Austria via Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary, bringing natural gas from the Caspian region and the Middle East to Europe. The six-company Nabucco consortium to develop, construct and operate the Nabucco pipeline includes Austrian oil and gas firm OMV, Bulgaria and Romania's state-run companies, Bulgarian Energy Holding and Transgaz, Hungary's MOL, Turkey's Botas and Germany's RWE. Each of the six shareholders must provide about 2 billion euros in bank guarantees, Nabucco Managing Director Reinhard Mitschek said. That, according to Borisov, would immediately push up the budget deficits of the countries that will have to provide state guarantees for Nabucco. "I will not halt the project, but we all must understand it would lead us to a deficit," the Bulgarian prime minister warned. Bulgaria has not included the bank guarantees for Nabucco in its 2011 budget, envisioning a deficit of 2.5% of GDP. Thus, if the EU turns down Sofia's request for giving a fiscal leeway to the member states involved in the project, the Balkan country would see its budget gap overshoot the 3% of GDP limit set for the nations in the bloc. In a separate move, members of the European Parliament (MEPs) from Borisov's centre-right Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) also stressed Tuesday the need for Nabucco to be made a true EU priority. "Nabucco must be considered a priority because it is an alternative for the diversification of energy resources in Europe," the GERB MEPs said in a declaration distributed in Brussels. "It would guarantee significant gas supplies and encourage competition on the European gas market; it would lead to lower gas prices for the EU citizens and eliminate energy deficits in Bulgaria and the EU." Meanwhile, Bulgarian Energy Minister Traicho Traikov called Tuesday for the development of a common energy plan for Southeast Europe, which "used to be the periphery of an area, but now it is a centre in terms of energy along with the Caspian region". That, according to the minister implied "huge opportunities". Also on Tuesday, Traikov and Romanian Economy, Trade and Business Environment Minister Ion Ariton signed a memorandum of understanding to integrate the two countries' energy markets. The move is expected to help improve the reliability of the two Balkan neighbours' energy systems and economic efficiency in the region, according to the Bulgarian minister. "There are many areas in which we will derive more benefits if we co-operate," said Traikov. He also announced an agreement between BEH and Greek company IGI Poseidon on the establishment of a joint company to build the first gas interconnector between the two nations. The 170km-long pipeline, which will run from Komotini in northern Greece to Stara Zagora in Bulgaria, will have the capacity to transport up to 5 billion cubic metres of gas annually from the Southern Gas Corridor to Bulgaria and other Balkan countries. The 160m-euro project is due to be completed in 2013. "This was the final step before beginning the construction of this pipeline," Traikov said after the signing ceremony Tuesday. |
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| Source: setimes.com | ||
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