The European Commission has underlined that it expects all parties to commit in implementing the Great Sea Interconnector project "as soon as possible, as any further delay is to the detriment of the stakeholders, especially Cyprus, the main beneficiary of this project."
Moreover, while acknowledging that the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) has initiated an investigation related to the GSI, the Commission declined to comment, in line with its standard practice.
The Commission reiterated that the GSI is classified as a "Project of Common Interest," meaning no fixed deadline applies, as the priority is its completion. It also stressed that "before this project was eligible for EU funding, it underwent thorough scrutiny by the Commission and project promoters to prove its viability before any commitments were made."
Answering to questions of the press, Anna-Kaisa Itkonen, Spokesperson for Energy Issues of the European Commission, noted that "this project, the Great Sea Interconnector (GSI), remains of utmost political and strategic importance to the European Commission, and we are doing everything within our power to ensure its implementation."
"The reasons it is so important are, first, that it is absolutely key to ending Cyprus’ energy isolation. Second, once implemented, it will increase the share of renewables in the system, ultimately resulting in lower prices for the benefit of local businesses and consumers in the region," she said.
She noted that "these are the reasons why it is of absolute importance that this project is implemented. It has the status of a Project of Common Interest and has received funding over the years from several of our funding mechanisms, including the Connecting Europe Facility and the Trans-European Networks for Energy."
"For each of these funding mechanisms, feasibility studies and commitments from the parties, project promoters, and concerned member states are required. Before this project was eligible for EU funding, it underwent a fairly thorough scrutiny by the Commission and project promoters to prove its viability before any commitments were made," she added.
Regarding the studies cited by Cypriot Finance Minister Makis Keravnos, the Spokesperson commented, "You referred to the Cypriot studies, we are of course on technical level in continuous contact on this project as we are on all projects that we are funding, so I will have to check if that information is being exchanged on technical level."
According to the Spokesperson, the project "has the status of a project of common interest, and has received funding over the years from several of our funding mechanisms, including the Connecting Europe Facility, the Transeuropean Networks for Energy etc. For each of these funding mechanisms they require feasibility studies, commitments from the parties, from the project promoters as well as from the member states that are concerned."
On Viability and Completion of the project, Itkonen commented that "before this project has been eligible for EU funding, it has gone through a fairly thorough scrutiny by the Commission, by the project promoters, because it has to prove viability before anyone is set to be committed."
"We are in constant contact in the current situation, the project has been going on for quite some time already and it has to come to its completion as soon as possible. To enable this within the role that we have, we are in contact with the promoter, with the regulator, with national authorities and then of course we call on the responsibility of all actors to honour their commitment. We really hope that we will see the completion of this project not just for the sake of it being completed, but really to end Cyprus’s energy isolation and to bring down the energy prices in the region," she said.
Regarding the EPPO investigation into the GSI, the Spokesperson stated that "we are aware of the initiation of an investigation by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) and we have no comment to make on this matter. It is for the EPPO to comment so the questions regarding their work should be addressed to them, but we are aware of these ongoing things but we will not comment in any way."
She added that the timeline and delays caused by the EPPO investigation are a hypothetical question. "What we can say from our side is that we expect all parties to commit to the implementation of the project as soon as possible, because any further delay is to the detriment for the orates involved and especially Cyprus, the main beneficiary of this project. It is a project of common interest, this means there is no deadline set by the Commission, we are partly funding this project and it is of our interest to come into completion, but it is definitely on the benefit of those taking part in this project," she added
"We are in constant contact regarding the current situation. The project has been ongoing for quite some time and must be completed as soon as possible. To achieve this, within our role, we are in contact with the promoter, the regulator, and national authorities, and we call on all actors to honour their commitments. We truly hope to see the completion of this project not just for its own sake, but to end Cyprus’ energy isolation and bring down energy prices in the region," she concluded.
(Source: CNA)
