Greek
Energy min. P. Lafazanis said Greece will probably submit request to
participate in BRICS bank
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Speaking on
ANA-MPA news agency on Friday, the Greek Environment and Energy
Minister, Panagiotis Lafazanis, said that Greece secured Russia’s
support to participate in the new development BRICS bank:
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Greece
is preparing and will probably submit a request to participate in
the new development bank for BRICS countries and has secured
Russia’s support on the issue, Productive Reconstruction,
Environment and Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis told ANA-MPA
news agency on Friday evening.
“During
my meeting with Russian Deputy Finance Minister Sergey Storchak,
we secured the decisive Russian support to Greece’s request for
participation in the new development bank of BRICS countries. The
relevant request for Greece’s participation…will be symbolic
and will be paid in installments, while right after operations
begin, it will be able to accept financial support,” the
minister said.
Lafazanis
added that technical details were also discussed on how to submit
the request so that it will be accepted after discussions within
the Greek government conclude.
He
also noted that he also discussed the credit facility that will be
provided by Russian banks to the Greek company which will
undertake the construction of the new gas pipeline which will
cross Greece. “Repayment of the Russian loan will be achieved by
the profits made through the operation of the pipeline and this
facility is not related to loans or economic assistance between
states,” he said.
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Meanwhile,
Lafazanis also claimed that the US oppose extension of Russia’s
Turkish Stream pipeline, which is the Greek part (Greek Stream), from
the Turkish borders to Central Europe.
From
sputniknews.com:
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"Unfortunately,
as to the pipeline with the Russian gas, the position of the
United States is negative. The US side took this position
officially during the recent meeting I personally had with the US
official responsible for energy issues," Lafazanis said.
"For
all these reasons, we support the pipeline, we want it to be laid
across the Greek soil and we are convinced that it would be an
input to all the European nations and to Europe as such and we
fully disagree with the position of the United States on this
issue." [...] "The Russian pipeline, which will replace
the Ukrainian transit road of the natural gas, is absolutely
necessary for the energy security in Europe. This means that it
has to be welcomed by all the EU member states and by the European
peoples who understand the needs of having uninterruptable
supplies of cheap natural gas," Panagiotis Lafazanis said.
"TAP
is a pipeline which will pass through Greece, of course, but it
cannot satisfy the huge demands in natural gas of the European
states and peoples," Lafazanis said, adding that the project
would not be an alternative to the Turkish Stream. The Trans
Adriatic Pipeline is a 2,170-mile project to transport
Azerbaijan's natural gas to Europe. The Greek extension of a
pipeline to pump Russian natural gas through Turkey to consumers
in southern Europe could cost about 2 billion euros (some $2.2
bln), Greek Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis told Sputnik on
Friday. "We have not discussed yet how exactly the project
will be financed. But we already know that the approximate cost of
the pipeline will be around 2 billion euros and its construction
will create about 20 000 working places," Lafazanis said.
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Obviously,
in this new Cold War, Americans would never like to see Russia's
geopolitical expansion in the East Mediterranean, and especially in
regions that traditionally belong to the Western bloc for decades,
but things are not so easy for them under current circumstances:
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... the German political elite
and the eurocrats play with fire, as they blackmail the
economically devastated Greece, insisting on the same neoliberal
policies that ruined the country. Greece may be forced to escape
the eurozone prison and return to national currency in order to
survive. The Russians will not waste the chance. They will offer
an alternative through BRICS
(evolving-fast-greece-closer-to-brics),
and grab the opportunity for geopolitical expansion in the East
Mediterranean, mainly through the game of the pipelines
(fresh-smart-moves-by-putin-in).
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