Turkish gambit

Europe intends to change the South Stream to the South Gas Corridor, and also not without the participation of Turkey

EPA

The European Union will fundamentally change the energy security system, get rid of excessive, according to Brussels, dependence on Russian gas. He will accelerate the construction of the Southern Gas Corridor from the Caspian through Turkey, will invest in other projects.

This is not a reaction to the performance of Vladimir Putin in Ankara, but a long -prepared agenda. Her main idea is approved on Tuesday with the Council of EU Energy Ministers. The “on the fields” of the meeting separately gathered ministers from seven EU countries, which were involved in the South Stream. They are dumbfounded by Vladimir Putin's sudden statement.

The deputy chairman of the European Commission Marosh Shefchovich invited ministers long before the sensational performance of the President of the Russian Federation in Ankara. The declared theme of the meeting was the opportunity to “marry” with the “third energy package” of the EU, which does not fit into European legislation, but an attractive project of Gazprom for southeastern Europe. In the new circumstances, the conversation went about whether there would be a “southern stream” at all, and if there is no, then what to do to the countries of southeastern Europe that counted on it, and how the EU will help ensure their energy security.

The South Stream is considered to be a Russian-Italian project. But when, at a press conference of the Deputy Minister of Economic Development of Italy, Claudio de Vincent asked how Italy found out about the termination of the construction, he replied: “Like everyone, from television agencies.” So far, neither Italy nor any other EU country, which signed an intergovernmental agreement with Russia, did not receive an official “funeral” from Moscow.

South Stream is an important European route diversification project. We thought that you could find a solution with Russian partners. But the basis of the solution could only be the EU rules and the third energy package. Gazprom changed the strategy, so we must strengthen our own - not only along routes, but also on sources, ”the Italian said.

At first, the obstacle to the “Southern Stream” was his discrepancy between the EU antimonopoly legislation, the European rules of transparency and competitiveness of public procurement. The EU countries that signed the agreements with Russia instructed the European Commission on their behalf to negotiate with Moscow in search of a compromise, hoping that legal conflicts will be settled.

But Crimea and Donbass brought down the relations of the EU with Moscow.

The “southern stream”, the intention of which was bypassed by Ukraine, acquired an odious political coloring, and caused rejection. In an emotional impulse, the deputies of the European Parliament even demanded that the executive authorities and business abandon it. But the negotiations continued, and Brussels still considered “JUP” one of the important alternative routes, putting on the regiment an economically less wealthy “Nabukko”.

Putin’s speech in Ankara undermined Brussel's desire to fight for the legal purity of the project, if this was still. Scared.

“The Europeans were shocked not so much by the refusal of the project, but also the manner in which this was done,” the official shares with me, who knows the gas problem well. “The decision is made of his own free will one person, immediately announces him publicly and even after that it does not consider it necessary to explain with his partners.”

European officials managed to reassure the ministers from Southeast Europe who arrived in Brussels. Those seemed to come to terms that there would be no “southern flow”, but they believed that their countries would be part of the EU unified energy market and would not remain extreme.

A joint statement was signed by the ministers of the countries involved in the Southern Stream - Austria, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Romania, Slovenia, Croatia and the deputy chairman of the European Commission Shefchovich. There was no eighth country - Hungary. Accidentally? The government of Viktor Orban was again out of the European track ...

All countries spoke out for the integration of energy markets of central and southeastern Europe, for diversification of suppliers, sources and routes. And they offered their own projects not related to the “southern flow” as priority, that is, requiring financing from the allied funds.

Greece, Bulgaria and Romania intend to actively participate in the large project "Southern Gas Corridor". They are going to build a “vertical connection” for diversification of gas supplies. The pipe will pass from the "South Corridor" to the Slovak gas knot, and then to the Baltic states, connecting the gas pipeline systems of the south and north of the EU with bilateral flows. That is, gas can be driven from where there are many, where it is not. Regardless of state borders. This also includes the terminals of liquefied natural gas in the Greek Alexandropoulos and Caval, Greek Minister Iannis Maniatis said.

Seven ministers at a meeting with Shefchovich assured Brussels in the desire of his countries to stay on the side of the EU in his global energy game. These countries have made a choice, demanding formal explanations from Russia. In the conflict between Brussels and Moscow, they are on the European side, and have already joined the competition for money from the “Investment package of the junker” designed for three years. Of course, not all 315 billion euros of the alleged investment “from the junker” will go to energy projects, but European energy will not remain in offense.

If we talk about the import of gas, then the event of the day was the resuscitation of the Southern Gas Corridor project, which consists of complementary small projects. He must deliver gas from the Caspian deposits (in the near future-Shah-Deniz in Azerbaijan) through Turkey to the border of the European Union. Other countries can be connected to it - Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and, probably, Iran and Iraq.

The corridor includes a transanatoly gas pipeline (Tanap) through Georgia and Turkey, transdriatic (TAP) through Greece, Albania and Italy. It will provide about 20% of the needs of the EU, according to the European Commission. True, the corridor is designed for pumping to Western Europe no more than 16 billion cubic meters of gas per year, while the South Stream was designed for 63 billion. Nevertheless, Europeans choose the “Southern Corridor”, because it is not worth one master of one state.

Shefchovich informed ministers about his meetings in Baku and Astana, where he tried to speed up the Southern Gas Corridor project. From Azerbaijan, he received “very clear assurances” that Baku will work on schedule, because he is very interested in the timely implementation of the project to deliver his gas to the EU border by 2020.

Slovak Shefchovich, a graduate of MGIMO and now the main EU Energy, met on Monday with the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Turkey Taner Yildyz and received guarantees of Ankara’s participation in the South Gas Corridor project. This happened a few hours after the presidents of Russia and Turkey agreed on the alternative to the South Stream.

It seems that Ankara saw the opportunity to earn on the contradictions of Moscow and Brussels. But she is already asked questions, does she intend to comply with the requirements of the “third EU Energy Pact”, leading gas to the border of the Union?

Among the projects that became attractive to Brussels against the backdrop of the Ukrainian crisis and a break with Russia, the Istmed gas pipeline from deposits in the coastal waters of Israel and Cyprus is named. Its price is from 3.5 to 5 billion euros, and it can receive funding as one of the priority projects of pan -European significance.

Brussels shows that, no matter how important for the EU, Russia as a supplier of energy, the times of Brezhnev, Schmidt and Kolya have passed. The world economy depends less on strong political leaders. In the favor there are demonopolization and anonymous.

The previous EU Commissioner Gunter Ettinger said that for the EU energy security - the more pipes, the better. His successors agree, but add: from various sources. And they put Russia in a common row. And after Ukrainian events, also with addiction. Modern energy does not recognize state borders.

NB GAMBIT is a combination at the beginning of the chess party, in which one of the parties sacrifices the figure to gain a strategic advantage.