“We have decided to turn our backs on Russian fossil fuels and turn to our reliable energy partners,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in Bucharest.
The financial and technical framework of the agreement was not specified in the communiqué published by the Romanian President, Klaus Iohannis, in the margins of a meeting between the various signatories.
The project envisages that the works will start in September 2023 and that the infrastructure will not be commissioned before 2029.
With a length of 1,195 km and almost exclusively submerged in the Black Sea, the cable should connect Azerbaijan to Hungary, passing through Georgia and Romania. These four countries signed the agreement.
Romania and Hungary, EU Member States, receive the support of the European Commission. “We are preparing to build the longest submarine power cable to date,” said Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
Since the invasion of Ukraine in February, the EU has promoted strategic cooperation with several producer states to try and reduce their dependence on Russian hydrocarbons.
Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev said the project represents his country’s “contribution” to “European energy security” and also “creates a new bridge between the EU and Azerbaijan”.
The cable also represents a “new route full of opportunities” for Georgia, “a country with a European destination” that could become an “energy center,” Ursula von der Leyen said.
The president of the European Commission added that the work will also enable us to “supply electricity to our neighbours, such as Moldova and Ukraine, thus contributing to the modernization of Ukraine’s energy system”.
The agreement covers other areas of cooperation, such as “new energy technologies, hydrogen production and expansion of transit infrastructure”, according to a statement by the Romanian presidency.
Source: DN
