PM addresses EU Council on energy

The European Council meeting ended in Brussels Wednesday afternoon, with its conclusions stressing the need for research and development of local land and sea energy resources in Europe. Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras had raised the issue earlier during his address at the summit.

Samaras said that economic powers in the rest of the world are currently racing to expand their own energy sources and to reduce their energy dependence. The most notable examples, as he put it, were the big steps taken recently by the U.S. and Japan in the exploitation of hydrocarbons from schistolithic deposits and hydrides.

The Greek premier stressed that this was very important for Greece, as well as Cyprus, as there were now strong indications that Greece is very likely to possess considerable energy deposits. Just like Cyprus, which has discovered them already and is proceeding to exploitation.

According to the prime minister, it was in the interest of all of Europe that the existing deposits be explored, discovered and tapped as soon as possible, since they can reduce Europe's energy dependence.

With regard to the achievement of the single energy market, Samaras underlined the meaning of "absolute interconnection" by which "energy isolation" of distant regions will be lifted and opportunities will be created for investments in these regions.

On the part of Greece this is very important, particularly for the connection of the islands with the unified energy network, Samaras said, who stressed that a fragmented market creates distortions of many kinds and big differences in the cost, annulling the completion of the single European market.

On the question of energy investments, Samaras said that care should be taken on the cost, as this not only affects competitiveness, but also social cohesion itself, meaning that it also causes "energy poverty" and such phenomena must be fought.

Speaking on "diversity of sources", the premier said that the Greek government (together with the governments of Italy, Albania and the other countries in the Western Balkans) took an initiative over the past months for the creation of a new alternate pipeline that will supply natural gas from Azerbaijan to Europe, the TAP pipeline (Trans Adriatic Pipeline).

Source: Athens News Agency