Nabucco deleted from list of projects to be financed by EU stimulus plan
Mention of the Nabucco gas pipeline has been deleted from a list of projects to be financed by a five-billion euro EU stimulus plan, it emerged after a meeting of the bloc's foreign ministers on 16 March.
EU officials confirmed yesterday that the pipeline, once considered a flagship EU venture, had disappeared from the list of energy projects to be financed under the plan.
The move was apparently made at the request of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who insists that no public money should be spent on a project in which Berlin has little interest. Merkel confirmed her country's opposition to funding the flagship Nabucco gas pipeline project with European money, stressing that the problem is not financing but finding gas to feed the pipeline, EurActiv reports.
The Nabucco pipeline project aims to decrease the EU's dependence on Russian imports by bringing Caspian gas to a hub in Austria via the Balkans.
Azerbaijan is seen as the project's most likely first gas supplier, while in future, it would also bring supplies from the Middle East. The gas would be shipped to Europe via Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary.
The pipeline is scheduled to begin operating in 2014, but it is not yet certain that it will be built. Continued hesitation by the private sector to finance the project, not to mention the brief war between Georgia and Russia in August 2008, means that Nabucco faces an uncertain future
EU officials confirmed yesterday that the pipeline, once considered a flagship EU venture, had disappeared from the list of energy projects to be financed under the plan.
The move was apparently made at the request of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who insists that no public money should be spent on a project in which Berlin has little interest. Merkel confirmed her country's opposition to funding the flagship Nabucco gas pipeline project with European money, stressing that the problem is not financing but finding gas to feed the pipeline, EurActiv reports.
The Nabucco pipeline project aims to decrease the EU's dependence on Russian imports by bringing Caspian gas to a hub in Austria via the Balkans.
Azerbaijan is seen as the project's most likely first gas supplier, while in future, it would also bring supplies from the Middle East. The gas would be shipped to Europe via Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary.
The pipeline is scheduled to begin operating in 2014, but it is not yet certain that it will be built. Continued hesitation by the private sector to finance the project, not to mention the brief war between Georgia and Russia in August 2008, means that Nabucco faces an uncertain future
