European Institutions to Increase Focus on North-South Energy, Transportation Corridor

European institutions declared their interest in increasing their focus on the construction of the North-South Corridor of energy, transportation and telecommunications, the Central Europe Energy Partners (CEEP) said on Tuesday, after a high-level conference in Brussels with Maroš Šefčovič, European Commission Vice-President for Energy Union. 

“Our idea is to be able to easily drive an ‘energy highway’ from North to South and back again. We need more investments in this area” Paweł Olechnowicz, Chairman of the Board of Directors of CEEP, commented in a press release.

The meeting, which focused on creating an integrated set of energy, transportation and digital links across Central Europe from the Baltic to the Adriatic and Black Seas, also discussed the importance of energy prices for Europe’s competitiveness. 

“By developing the renewable energy sector and unifying the potentials of Western, Central and Eastern Europe, and finally, by integrating Ukraine with the EU energy systems may we quickly and efficiently enhance the competitiveness and increase the energy security of the whole Europe” Jan Kulczyk, Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of CEEP, added.  

According to CEEP, the cost of these projects equals €50.5 billion, with the majority going to finance energy (€27 billion) and transport projects (€20 billion).

‘These figures are only a small portion of the infrastructure investment needs up to 2020, in the range of €1.5-2 trillion (or an average of €150-200 billion annually), outlined by the European Commission in 2011.’