New Energy Roads: Trans Adriatic Pipeline Pt.3

(image copyrights: www.jsg.utexas.edu)

During the past months, Security Affairs have indicated the importance of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline as the route of transport of the Azeri Shah Deniz II gas to Europe.

Although the competition was hard, in 28th of June the Shah Deniz Consortium confirmed the choice of TAP, introducing Greece, Italy and Albania to the new energy era of Europe. With this agreement and after the initiation of transport, the European countries will no more depend only on Russia and Algeria for their natural gas needs, considering Azerbaijan as their new powerful energy partner.

The Consortium also pointed out that this particular choice was made because of the project's advanced economic and technical characteristics. Thanks to these characteristics, Trans Adriatic Pipeline prevailed over NABUCCO West, the until recently predominant pipeline whose route was including Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania and Austria.

For the three countries that will host TAP, the implementation of the project will offer an economic and geopolitical boost, including new job positions, raise of investments and a higher energy profile towards the European Union. Italy is going to gain a wider energy independence from Algeria and its natural gas supplies. Regarding Greece, it is an important move against the economic crisis and the hyperbolic voices about "Grexit", prompting international investors to approach the market in wider scale. And of course, for Albania, the pipeline agreement is synchronized with a major political change, the victory of the Alliance for a European Albania and its leader Edi Rama; the  important energy project and the defeat of Sali Berisha which was widely considered as a sign of growing democratic maturity of Albania, is a promising combination for its future.

Trans Adriatic Pipeline will be approximately 870 km long, connecting with Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) near Greek-Turkish borders. It is designed to expand the capacity from 10 to 20 bcm per year and will open up the so-called Southern Gas Corridor, strengthening Europe's energy security by providing a new natural gas source.

New energy roads: Trans Adriatic Pipeline Pt.2

On 13th of January 2013, the trilateral Intergovernmental Agreement regarding the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) was signed. Greece, Italy and Albania took a big step towards the final choice of TAP as the exclusive one to transport the gas from Azerbaijan to Europe, by the Shah Deniz consortium.

The Agreement was signed by the Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs Dimitris Avramopoulos, the Italian Minister of Development Corrado Passera, and the Albanian Minister of Economy, Trade and Energy Edmond Haxhinasto. The ceremony took place  at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Athens, Greece, with the presence of officers from the Azerbaijani government, the TAP consortium (Statoil, Axpo, E.ON Ruhrgas) and the Shah Deniz consortium (BP, Socar, Total). It has to be noted that on the occasion of his visit in Greece, Eric Rubin, the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State was also present to the ceremony.

The Italian Minister Corrado Passera pointed out the important role of TAP as a strategic infrastructure to strengthen the security of supplying energy  to Europe. Mr. Passera made clear that the plan of his government is to turn Italy into the main gas hub of Southern Europe and added that his country should play an important  role within the general European Energy Policy.

On their side, Greek Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos and Prime Minister Antonis Samaras noted the establishment of a new framework of cooperation with Italy and Albania, and the strategic role of the project for the energy security in the European Union. Mr. Samaras mentioned the advantages of TAP compared to the other pipelines planned for the region (shorter route, lower cost, smalled number of countries involved), and said that Greece is determined to attract even more foreign investors in the country.

Finally, the Agreement was welcomed by the European Commissioner for Energy, Günther Oettinger, who expressed the full support of the European Commission towards the Trans Adriatic Pipeline project and added that this agreement has set the legal framework for the pipeline. "This is another important step towards our aim to get gas directly from the Caspian Region" the EU Energy Commissioner said.

However, for the moment, the members involved in this project can only wait until June 2013 in order to find out if TAP will be the pipeline chosen to transport the Caspian gas in Europe, through the South.

Initially posted by Giorgos Dimitriadis on The Pryer, UK.

New energy roads: Trans Adriatic Pipeline Pt.1

The Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), is the project of the homonymous company that plans to build and develop the pipeline  which will transfer the natural gas from the Shah Deniz II in Azerbaijan, to Europe, through Greece, Italy and Albania. The company shareholders are the SwissEGL, the Norwegian Statoil and the German E.ON Ruhrgas; the two first hold 42.5% of the shares respectively, while the latter holds 15%. TAP will be the pipeline which will connect Middle East with Europe, opening the “Southern Gas Corridor”.

It is estimated that TAP will have a transportation capacity of approximately 10 bcm per year, depending on demands. Pipeline’s length will be approximately 800 km; 478 km will be in Greek, 204 km in Albanian and 5 km in Italian territory, while 105 km will be across the Adriatic Sea.

On 27th of September, the States of Greece, Italy and Albania, signed a Memorandum of Understanding in New York, providing officially their support towards the project. The three Foreign Ministers, Dimitris Avramopoulos (Greece), Giulio Terzi (Italy) and Edmond Panariti (Albania), along with company representatives, signed this MoU, affirming the necessary backing -in governmental level- of the pipeline construction and proper function.

It is clear that European Union makes efforts to cut its dependence on the Russian gas supplies, by reaching the Caspian Sea reserves and the Azerbaijan development of Shah Deniz through other routes. Russia provides EU with approximately 25% of its needs, so Trans Adriatic Pipeline is expected to be a milestone to the change of this dependence.

Of course, TAP is not the only project of gas transportation at this region. The alternative projects include the Nabucco Pipeline, also known as “Turkey-Austria Pipeline”, which will include Austria, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary, the Greece-Italy Pipeline, which will include Greece and Italy, and the South Stream project, that will include Russia, Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, Italy, Hungary, Austria, Slovenia and Turkey.

Initially posted by Giorgos Dimitriadis on The Pryer, UK.

Provoking The Balkan Neighbors: Former Yugoslav Republic Of Macedonia

Illustration from Eurodialogue.org

It would not be an exaggeration to say that the current period is one of the most peaceful the Balkans have seen, from the beginning of times until today. The region’s states are preserving a network of positive communication, and efforts are being made towards an even more stable future, besides some ultra-nationalist voices that exist in every country. Of course, the level of goodwill differs from country to country, but the diplomatic network seems to be in a relatively good way.

However, the Former Yugoslav Republic Of Macedonia seems to be the laggard in the list of the states that seek calmness in this – once turbulent – part of Europe. Some of the issues of ethnic minorities has been solved, but only up to some point, like the one of the Albanian minority that counts up to 30% of the population. Ethnic Albanians still claim that they are often victims of hidden discrimination, including by public officials, and as all minority groups in FYROM, they also face problems because of the heavy influence of the political parties on the educational system.

Regarding the foreign affairs, Former Yugoslav Republic Of Macedonia have some serious unresolved issues which, despite the international efforts, seem to be managed with stagnant policies, like the name issue with Greece. Despite the fact that the United Nations have intervened to the conversations between the two States, and that there has been a number of diplomatic concessions by the Greek side, FYROM keeps on facing this problem strictly demanding and not negotiating. Athens, during the long period of the name dispute, has been resilient, changing their stance from the strict “no Macedonia term” policy, to an acceptance of the use of the term within the name, under some negotiable conditions; they also have offered a big number of facilitations to the FYROM citizens and entrepreneurs, mainly through the Interim Accord (eg. the free use of the Thessaloniki Port), most of which are valid until today. On the other hand, an example that comes in mind, about Skopje lacking of goodwill to resolve this issue, is that the students in FYROM are officially taught that a large part of Macedonia, the North Greek Province, including Thessaloniki, the second largest city of Greece, belongs to them and is under Greek occupation.

Lately, Skopje stirs up the relations with its Eastern neighbors, Bulgaria. Using offensive language, the so called “World Macedonian Congress” – that is adjacent to the ruling party VMRO-DPMNE – says that there are almost no ethnic Bulgarians in Bulgaria and the majority of the population is of “Macedonian” origin. FYROM authorities continue by stating that this “Macedonian majority” in Bulgaria, live under a brutal oppression. The President of the “World Macedonian Congress” rhetorically asks in his article in the newspaper Vecer “[...] whether there are Bulgarians in Bulgaria without Macedonian roots” and goes on suggesting that Bulgaria needs to have ethnic “Macedonians” in order to keep the demographic balance in time and space.

The aggressive policy towards Bulgaria is similar to the one that was used towards Greece. One important similarity is the falsification of cultural and historical facts, in order to create a background able to add a prestige to the international image of the newly born State. And FYROM authotities seem willing to do everything to persuade the world about this background.

During the last years, a new project called “Skopje 2014″ takes place in the capital of FYROM, aiming to be part of the brand new “ancient” and “medieval” profile of the country. This includes statues of Alexander The Great, King Philippos II, Saints Cyril and Methodius, Tsar Samuel and many more, all taken from Greek and Bulgarian history. The project moves in rapid pace, as the authorities try to cloak the historical misinformations and falsifications. But what most do not know is that this project has a budget estimated at over €200 million. An amount of money extremely high to be spent just for the decoration of a city’s center; at the same time, the country faces economic crisis, unemployment rate is near 40% and the population that lives below the poverty line is around 30%.

Former Prime Minister and Vice-President of FYROM, Mr. Ljubco Georgievski, has stated in a recent interview on Bulgarian TV that “The center of Skopje looks like Disneyland or Asterix Park in Paris. There are no cultural events and in the rest of the country, they don’t even build roads. In my opinion they work on a ‘caricature of ideas’ in the city of Skopje”.

The “antiqization” of Skopje also includes new buildings, constructed in baroque, Roman or Hellenistic design, styles which as Vangel Bosinovski, one of the architects of the project mentions, have been initially created by “Macedonians”.

Former Yugoslav Republic Of Macedonia does not seem to conduct itself with respect towards its neighbors, continuing its intransigent policy to every diplomatic issue, especially with Greece and Bulgaria. However, considering that two of the country’s top foreign policy priorities are the NATO membership and the candidacy for European Union membership, the regional politcal behavior is a paradox, because both Greece and Bulgaria are holding a full membership in both of the aforementioned organizations, while Albania holds a NATO membership. These positions allows them to diplomatically point out the incompatibility of FYROM with the principles of NATO and -especially- European Union, focusing on the lack of respect of culture and history, and the absence of goodwill to solve these serious issues.

The struggle of Skopje to “create” a background and a new identity for their nation by falsifying the history of its neighbors, and the denial to face the reality about the oppressed minorities within its borders, may lead FYROM to a situation where blinded by its obsessions, it will get alienated from the Balkan and the European family.

Initially posted by Giorgos Dimitriadis on The Pryer, UK.