Nabucco removed from EU energy project list: report
Mention of the Nabucco gas pipeline has been deleted
from a list of projects to be financed by a five-billion euro EU
stimulus plan, following a meeting of the bloc`s foreign ministers
on Monday, the EurActiv website said.
EU officials confirmed that the pipeline, once considered a flagship EU venture, had disappeared from the list of energy projects to be financed under the plan.
The move was apparently made at the request of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who insists that no public money should be spent on a project in which Berlin has little interest.
Czech Deputy Prime Minister Alexandr Vondra confirmed that the ministers had failed to agree on the stimulus plan, as "some member states want to look at the package again" prior to the EU summit on March 19-20.
However, he added that a "strong group of countries wants Nabucco to be part of a set of projects". "I told that group of countries still support Nabucco," Vondra said, hinting that the Union was now divided along the lines of those supporting the pipeline and those who doubt its merits. During the ministerial meeting, Romania - an important transit country for Nabucco - was reported to be very critical of the project`s deletion from the list.
German Chancellor Merkel recently confirmed her country`s opposition to funding the flagship Nabucco project with European money, stressing that the problem is not financing but finding gas to feed the pipeline, according to EurActiv.
For its part, the European Commission insists that Nabucco can still receive funding under the revised plan. "The fact that we have changed the name doesn`t mean that Nabucco has disappeared. It`s there with another name," Commission spokesperson Ferran Tarradellas Espuny told EurActiv.
Tarradellas also said that the Southern Corridor project does not include South Stream, a Gazprom-favored alternative to Nabucco, which is meant to deliver Russian gas under the Black Sea via Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia and Croatia to Italy. A branch of the South Stream pipeline will run through Serbia and Hungary to Austria, ending at the Baumgarten gas storage facility, the same plant that Nabucco plans to use.
EurActiv brings together the skills of professionals with experience in EU affairs, journalism, information and communications, as well as Internet technology. For its content, EurActiv relies not only on its own editorial team but also on numerous content partnerships, as well as links to the national press and EU institutions.
EU officials confirmed that the pipeline, once considered a flagship EU venture, had disappeared from the list of energy projects to be financed under the plan.
The move was apparently made at the request of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who insists that no public money should be spent on a project in which Berlin has little interest.
Czech Deputy Prime Minister Alexandr Vondra confirmed that the ministers had failed to agree on the stimulus plan, as "some member states want to look at the package again" prior to the EU summit on March 19-20.
However, he added that a "strong group of countries wants Nabucco to be part of a set of projects". "I told that group of countries still support Nabucco," Vondra said, hinting that the Union was now divided along the lines of those supporting the pipeline and those who doubt its merits. During the ministerial meeting, Romania - an important transit country for Nabucco - was reported to be very critical of the project`s deletion from the list.
German Chancellor Merkel recently confirmed her country`s opposition to funding the flagship Nabucco project with European money, stressing that the problem is not financing but finding gas to feed the pipeline, according to EurActiv.
For its part, the European Commission insists that Nabucco can still receive funding under the revised plan. "The fact that we have changed the name doesn`t mean that Nabucco has disappeared. It`s there with another name," Commission spokesperson Ferran Tarradellas Espuny told EurActiv.
Tarradellas also said that the Southern Corridor project does not include South Stream, a Gazprom-favored alternative to Nabucco, which is meant to deliver Russian gas under the Black Sea via Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia and Croatia to Italy. A branch of the South Stream pipeline will run through Serbia and Hungary to Austria, ending at the Baumgarten gas storage facility, the same plant that Nabucco plans to use.
EurActiv brings together the skills of professionals with experience in EU affairs, journalism, information and communications, as well as Internet technology. For its content, EurActiv relies not only on its own editorial team but also on numerous content partnerships, as well as links to the national press and EU institutions.
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