Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb.4
By Aynur Gasimova- Trend:
The new Greek government, which promised the moon to its constituents, began to search for money to fulfill its obligations and in this regard turned its view on Azerbaijan. Such actions of the Greek government cannot be called anything other than blackmail.
Minister of Productive Reconstruction, Environment and Energy of Greece Panagiotis Lafazanis said that the government supports the construction of Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), however, it considers the benefits, that Greece can get from the transit of natural gas through its territory, to be insufficient. He said that this issue needs to be discussed additionally.
In fact, today the Greek government blackmails the gas consumers, namely the EU, rather than suppliers.
Athens takes advantage of contradictions of Russia and the West, while flirting with the first one and imposing conditions on the second one. Time will tell how far the Greek government will go wit these games, but one thing is clear: nothing good will come of it.
Revision of any international contracts cannot be called anything other than incompetence of the new government and an attempt to make money the shady way.
We shouldn't forget that energy security is the goal of Europe, not Azerbaijan's, which is self-sufficient in energy. Azerbaijan and its partners had a choice. One of the four routes was chosen - the one that starts at the border of Turkey and Greece, and the latter assumed commitments that it's obliged to fulfill.
There's another fact that needs to be considered. Today's there's a direct confrontation between "South Stream" (its changed route is called "Turkish Stream") and the "Southern Gas Corridor". Azerbaijani gas must be supplied to Europe via this Southern Gas Corridor. And Greece is actually using this confrontation. The purpose is to delay the process of implementing the Azerbaijani project in favor of the Russian one. It's obvious, who's the initiator of all this...
A similar situation was also observed when the government in Georgia was reshuffled. And then the hint was given to Azerbaijan for possible revising the energy and transport contracts (including the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project).
However, it is worth recalling that not only suppliers, but also consumers are interested in energy supplies. They are also interested in a single transport communication. Fortunately, Tbilisi figured it out.
Moreover, Greece is part of the EU. The EU is primarily interested in the Azerbaijani gas supply. So, Brussels will have to solve the problem with Athens.
The West has recently been accusing Azerbaijan of all mortal sins. However, Baku has never given reason to doubt its honesty. Azerbaijan has complied with all obligations, especially, those concerning the international contracts. It seems that the time has come for West not to accuse Azerbaijan, but to take example from it.
Aynur Gasimova is the head of the Trend English News Service
For any questions or feedback, follow the author on Twitter @AynuraGM
