Greece's EU Presidency to Place Importance on Gas Sector

Greece assumed the rotating six-month EU presidency on January 1st 2014.  Amid a variety of set priorities, importance has been given to the natural gas market with regards to the investments, energy security and regulation.

Greek Energy Minister Ioannis Maniatis recently stated that "The Greek Presidency in the EU has three chief aims: The completion of the internal energy and gas market, the 2015 goal of interconnecting all member states through gas pipelines and the establishment of the framework for the 2015 international agreement on climate change which will be focused also on the expansion of the use of natural gas."  Furthermore, according to sources within the Greek Ministry, the EU Energy Council is to set forward the above subjects on March 4th so as to be decided upon by heads of state Council mid-March.

The internal market homogenization process is mostly developed through the use of harmonizing regulation in gas issues amongst states and through the expansion of interconnectors of reverse flow and the establishment of gas hubs across the EU.  Athens-based Institute of Energy of South East Europe (IENE) estimated that in May 2014 "The Southern Corridor pipeline project, the Eastern Mediterranean offshore reserves and preferable routes and the Projects of Common Interest (PCIs), will be discussed amongst the member states and they will represent the diversification tools for the energy security supply of Europe and the creation of a single energy market in terms of gas flow and trade."

At the June 2014 EU Council, the last meeting before Greece passes on Presidency to Italy, the SEE energy community and the international aspects of EU's gas policies will be discussed, which will revolve primarily around the bilateral relations between the European Commission and Gazprom. Concurrently, ongoing negotiations between the EU and US on a transatlantic free trade zone will also be a theme of interest for the coming months and will be discussed in various formal and informal occasions.

Overall, the most pressing and ongoing issues of interest to date include the swift establishment of the Southern Corridor, which was awarded to the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline consortium (TAP) together with the linking to the gasification project in the Western Balkans and the Ionian-Adriatic pipeline and additionally the interconnection with the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) and on through rest of the ongoing interconnectors in Romania, Moldova, Serbia, Hungary and Croatia.

Another aspect are the gas reserves in East Mediterranean and the formation of a unified EU stance towards the creation of an East Med pipeline.

Lastly, the Greek Presidency aims to push forward the likelihood of Greece's offshore reserves, so as to be able to announce and lobby for the realization of an "enchased Southern Corridor" that will diversify EU gas imports by using Azeri, Israeli, Cypriot and perhaps Greek energy sources.

According to Athens-based Institute for Security and Defence Analysis (ISDA), "the Greek presidency places natural gas at the top of its EU agenda and also has been in negotiations with the forthcoming Italian Presidency (second half of 2014) to collaborate on the issue of the Southern Corridor and shape the EU agenda for the whole of 2014 in that respect."