Greece and Hungary sign up to Russia gas pipeline

Greece and Hungary have endorsed plans to build a new Russian gas pipeline in the latest blow to EU unity over the Ukraine crisis.

Their foreign ministers, Nikos Kotzias and Peter Szijjarto, added their names to a political declaration on the “Turkish Stream” project signed in Budapest on Tuesday (7 April) with counterparts from Serbia, Macedonia, and Turkey.

The communique says they “expressed … support to create a commercially viable option of route and source diversification for delivering natural gas from the Republic of Turkey through the territories of our countries to the countries of Central and South Eastern Europe”.

It calls for the EU to help fund related infrastructure, claiming that the pipeline “would … make a significant contribution to the overall energy security of Europe and must therefore be a common responsibility of the European Union”.

It also voices interest in “interconnecting the natural gas infrastructures of our countries with European Union financial assistance”.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin i late last year in Ankara said he will build Turkish Stream, a pipeline under the Black Sea to Turkey, after the EU blocked construction of South Stream, a pipeline under the Black Sea to Bulgaria, Serbia, and Hungary.

He noted that Turkish Stream will terminate at a new gas trading hub on the Greek-Turkish border.

He added that when it’s built, he will stop supplies to the EU via Ukraine and that if the EU wants the Russian gas to keep flowing it should pay for interconnectors to link south-eastern Europe, which relies on Russian supplies for close to 100 percent of its needs, to the Greek-Turkish outlet.

For its part, the European Commission blocked South Stream on grounds it violated EU anti-monopoly laws.

Its former energy commissioner, Gunther Oettinger i, also critised South Stream on strategic grounds, saying it would be inappropriate to take part in the project in the context of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.

Its new energy commissioner, Maros Sefcovic i, has equally criticised Turkish Stream, which is seen in EU circles as a political project designed to weaken Ukraine and increase EU dependence on Russia.

No more than a statement

The Budapest communique underlines that it is no more than a statement of “political intent only, and that further exchange of views and dialogue is needed”.

The Turkish minister, Bozkir, also told Hungarian media that “after the project’s feasibility studies are over, we’ll be able to give it a more qualitative estimate”.

The caveats come amid Turkish and EU scepticism that Turkish Stream will be built because Russia lacks money for the project and because its capacity exceeds the requirements of the region.

“Frankly, nobody in Turkey is taking it very seriously. People aren’t holding their breath,” a Turkish source told EUobserver shortly after Putin’s Ankara announcement last year.

“In the present climate, the Russians feel isolated. So they have the same reflex as the Iranians used to have - to announce some kind of new project with Turkey, and the whole idea is to show they still have international partners”.

A new blow to EU unity

The Budapest meeting represents a new blow to EU unity over the Ukraine crisis despite the pipeline’s dim prospects, however.

Russia is courting Cyprus, Greece, Hungary and Italy as potential veto-wielders against EU plans to extend economic sanctions before they expire in July.

The Greek PM, Alexis Tsipras i is to meet Putin in Moscow on Wednesday, following earlier Putin meetings with the Cypriot and Hungarian leaders.

Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, told the Tass news agency on Tuesday that Russia might exempt Greece from Russian sanctions on EU food exports if the talks go well.

“We co-operate in agriculture, and we can fix a decline in trade in this sphere linked to the forced introduction [by Russia] of retaliatory measures”, he said.

Nikolay Fyodorov, Russia’s agriculture minister, told Tass that Cyprus and Hungary might also gain exemptions.

For his part, Tsipras told Russian media “I think that the opportunity to strengthen our relationship is associated with tourism, as well as various cultural events”.

The Greek energy minister, Panagiotis Lafazanis, said: "I have a feeling that the visit of Alexis Tsipras to Moscow and his meeting with Vladimir Putin may become an important milestone”.

“The new chapter in the development of the Greek-Russian cooperation, that will also include the Russian gas pipeline on the Greek territory, may bring drastic and very positive changes to the political environment and the image of our region and Europe".