Anastasiades government is attempting to create pre-election impressions through exaggerations and misinformation on the natural gas issue
Statement by Yiorgos Loucaides, AKEL Political Bureau member and AKEL-Left-New Forces Parliamentary Representative
AKEL C.C. Press Office, 5th December 2017, Nicosia
We consider the meetings, contacts and partnerships with neighbouring countries that aim at exploiting the natural gas of our region as a welcome development. However, they must be confined to political announcements on the part of the government rulers.
The natural gas pipelines, such as EastMed and in general all the energy technical projects, are constructed by companies and judged solely by their economic performance.
More specifically, as far as the construction of the EastMed pipeline is concerned, what the government rulers must initially do is to sign inter-state agreements. Studies must subsequently be made on whether the project is technically feasible and whether it is also economically viable. If the final price of the Natural Gas is deemed satisfactory and if buyers are found, only then will agreements for the construction of the project be signed, which, according to the relevant study made carried out by MIT, will demand corresponding quantities and the same cost as the construction of a terminal, but with a more expensive final product price.
Today, neither the first stage, namely the signing of inter-state agreements, has been signed, given that we are only talking about a Memorandum of Understanding. However, following the government’s statements, the impression is being created that we have signed agreements for the construction of the EastMed pipeline.
After five wasted years in the management of the Natural Gas, after five years of broken pre-election pledges for the construction of a LNG terminal and an underwater pipeline, after five years of regressions and inertia with regards the exploitation of the “Aphrodite” gas field, the Anastasiades government is attempting to create election impressions through exaggerations and misinformation, evidently in order to conceal Nicos Anastasiades’ inertia, amateur management and self-improvisations on this major national chapter of the Natural Gas.
