The European Investment Bank
on Tuesday gave the TransAdriatic Pipeline (TAP) project a 1.5
billion euro loan.
The TAP will bring Azeri natural gas through Greece, Albania
and the Adriatic to reach Italy and tap into its natural-gas
network.
The EIB said that after "detailed discussions" by its board,
it had approved one of its largest ever loans.
The TAP is part of the natural gas market's Southern Corridor
and is thus among the EU's strategic energy projects.
There have been protests in Puglia over olive-tree removal
for the construction of the Italian hub, even though the trees
will be replaced in their original sites once construction is
complete.
In December Puglia Governor Michele Emiliano apologised for
having used an Auschwitz analogy in a row over the contested TAP
project.
Emiliano apologized for comparing a worksite in his region
for the TAP gas pipeline to Auschwitz amid a war of words with
Industry Minister Carlo Calenda.
"Objectively, the comparison between the TAP work site and
Auschwitz was wrong and I apologise for having inopportunely
used it live on radio this morning," Emiliano told Radio
Capital.
The row with Calenda broke out after the minister said that
an explosion in Austria that led to the temporary interruption
of gas flows from Russia proved the need for the TAP project,
which has been held up by violent protests and legal challenges.
Calenda chastised Emiliano about the Auschwitz comment and
about aspersions he cast about his motives.
"It is infantile and vulgar to say that I support the TAP to
favour lobbies and find a job (in the future), but basically
harmless," the minister said via Twitter.
"To say that the work site is the same as Auschwitz is
serious and disrespectful.
"Try to return within the limits of civil debate".
Before he became Italian premier, then Foreign Minister Paolo
Gentiloni said in 2016 that "The creation of the Trans
Adriatic Pipeline is strategic for the diversification of
provision sources" not just for "the EU and the Balkans" but
also "for Italy".
Speaking at the foreign ministry in Rome during the fourth
session of the inter-governmental commission on economic
cooperation between Italy and Azerbaijan, Gentiloni said "after
the inauguration of the project in Thessaloniki, about one month
ago, a challenge has opened: seeing Azeri gas reach Italy by
2020" .
"Now we can look at new horizons", he said. The objective,
recalled Gentiloni, is to boost economic and political relations
between Rome and Baku, considered a "strategic regional
partner".
The TAP consortium is made up of the following companies:
BP (20%), SOCAR (20%), Snam (20%), Fluxys (19%), Enags
(16%) and Axpo (5%).
It is set to invest 5.6 billion euros in the gas pipeline in
the next few years.
Protests against the Puglia stretch of the TAP have centred
on Nimby issues as well as the temporary removal of olive trees.
photo: police keep protesters at bay in Puglia
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