EU reaffirms support for great sea interconnector

Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen responded to a question from Pasok MEP and S&D vice-president Giannis Maniatis regarding the Greece-Cyprus-Israel electricity interconnection project (GSI), reaffirming the European Commission’s backing, the Athens News Agency reported.

“Strong political and technical support” continues to be provided by the European Commission to the Greece-Cyprus-Israel electricity interconnection project, known as the Great Sea Interconnector, as well as to efforts to accelerate its construction, Jorgensen said in his reply.

He underlined that in relation to potential geopolitical risks surrounding the project, “the European Commission is fully committed to placing particular emphasis on the connective dimension of the project in third countries, in order to avoid further delays in its implementation”.

He also pointed out that “the European Commission also presented its expectations in the 2025 enlargement report on Turkey, which accompanies the 2025 communication on EU enlargement policy”.

In his full written response, Jorgensen stated that “the Great Sea Interconnector pipeline, which has once again been included in the most recent union list of projects of common interest under the Trans-European Networks for Energy regulation, is one of the energy corridor initiatives identified in the European networks package, for which the commission will continue to provide strong political and technical support”.

He acknowledged that “this project has faced delays, however, the commission is not aware of any new implementation timetable and is working closely with the Cypriot and Greek authorities, as well as with the project promoter, to address the delays”.

At the same time, he stressed that “with regard to the funding the project has received from the Connecting Europe Facility, the conditions set out in the grant agreement apply, including with respect to timelines”.

Jorgensen further explained that “the inclusion of the project on the EU list and its funding under the Connecting Europe Facility mean that the project meets the criteria of the Trans-European Networks for Energy regulation, including a positive cost-benefit analysis”.

He added that “the Cypriot and Greek authorities are examining certain financial parameters with a view to accelerating the implementation of the projects and the commission supports this acceleration”.