The European Union will benefit with the faster integration of energy networks in its Southeastern flank, energy ministers from Greece, North Macedonia, Serbia, Albania, Moldova and Georgia said on Thursday at the “Energy Transition Summit” in Athens.
The Vertical Natural Gas Corridor is a “historic and colossal paradigm shift” for Southeastern Europe, Greek Energy Minister Stavros Papastavrou said, referring to the gas pipeline system that starts in Greece, passes through Bulgaria and reaches countries in Central, Eastern, and Southeast Europe.
Papastavrou said the project, made up of existing and future infrastructure for natural gas, is “much more than its economic dimension” and “has transformative consequences” for the culture of a region that over the centuries has been divided by wars and the division between West and East.
Speaking at a panel of six energy ministers at the forum organized by the Financial Times and the newspaper Kathimerini, Papastavrou said energy has the ability to unite countries that had not learned to cooperate.
He also noted the need for “energy pragmatism,” which means that despite the dedication to the green transition, countries “cannot ignore the necessity for energy security,” which fuels such as natural gas can ensure. Europe has been approaching the transition to clean energy for years from an ethical perspective, but this is not a matter of ethics, he continued.
