Azernews.Az

By Gulgiz Dadashova

The European stock market breathed a sigh of relief when Greece’s government backed away from a debt-write-down threat, raising hope that the region won’t face a renewed crisis.

However, the comments by Panagiotis Lafazanis, representing the new Greek government headed by SYRIZA party surprised all once again. Many interpret the comments as a prelude to a new crisis for Europe’s energy security.

Lafazanis, New Greek minister of Production Reconstruction, Environment and Energy said the Greek government supports the construction of the Trans Adriatic pipeline, however it wants to get more benefits from gas transit through Greece’s territory.

He said the government will strive to increase benefits from TAP for Greece and Azerbaijan. “There will be discussions in order to get the best results”, Lafazanis said, adding that Greek government aims at strengthening relations with Azerbaijan in all spheres.

The new government of Greece, the problem child of the 28-nation EU, now plans to fulfill its pre-election promises at the expense of the region’s energy security.

Local media reports indicate the Syriza government will request in the short term, an amendment to the TAP clauses that have been signed by the previous administration. In such case, several former governmental figures, maybe found liable of damaging the economic interests of the state that is a punishable penal offence, a Syriza official commented on Natural Gas Europe.

The new energy minister's comments appear to indicate that Athens has decided to change course on energy policy with considerable impact on the European gas market.

At a time of open rivalry between the Turkish Stream initiative and Southern Gas Corridor pipeline project, through which the Azerbaijani gas should reach Europe, Greece is actually trying to take advantage of this rivalry in its own interest.

Greek energy officials are concerned that hardening of the relations between EU and Russia, the main supplier of the gas to Europe, may result in serious energy security constraints for the country.

Azerbaijan and its partners in the Shah Deniz Consortium have made their decisions, and revision of any international contracts in any way will show incompetence of the new government and its attempt to make money through “blackmailing”, and nothing else.

Today the Greek government is blackmailing with such statements not the gas suppliers, but very customers, namely the EU. Athens seeks to take advantage of the situation at a time when the EU rushes to cut its dependence on Russian gas export, and Russia, in turn, seeks to keep its share in the European gas market with the new Turkish Stream initiative.

Whether it’s the time for Greece to fulfill its promises to Greek voters or a real double-sided game remains to be seen.

What is clear today is that this will not bring any good results in the energy security. This is the goal of Europe rather than Azerbaijan, which is self-sufficient in energy and seeks only diversification of export routes, but not the “security”.

Azerbaijan has already positioned itself as a reliable energy partner to the West and complied with its obligations in all major projects, and any possible delays in the project realization will be a losing time for the West. And here the West should blame Greece and think twice as it’s the EU which is interested in the supply of Azerbaijani gas primarily, not Baku.

That’s why the EU should deal with the problems of its naughty child.
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