Filenews 16 July 2025 by Chrysanthos Manoli
Yesterday's teleconference organized by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Energy ended with a resounding failure, in order to pressure the Cyprus Energy Regulatory Authority (CERA) to consent to what IPTO, the implementing body for the Cyprus-Crete electricity interconnection, is asking for: That is, to start paying - through consumer charges in Cyprus - IPTO for all the costs it presents for the interconnection and not within the framework of €25 million. As agreed by the Christodoulides and Mitsotakis governments.
Which, however, as a project, is limited for the time being only to the following: the construction of a cable by NEHANS, without any other development at sea and without observing the timetables to which it was committed. Exploration in international waters, which Turkey arbitrarily considers to be its own continental shelf, has not progressed a single measure and no one knows if they will ever proceed.
And the European Union has not said a word to Turkey. However, it asks the Republic of Cyprus to pay for a project that not even the Union itself can guarantee will be completed.
And from yesterday's teleconference it became clear that the Republic of Cyprus is facing a front with two executives: the Commission's Directorate-General for Energy and IPTO., who are now questioning and undermining the agreement reached last year by the governments of Cyprus and Greece.
The agreement stipulated that Cyprus, regardless of IPTO's claims or expenses, would only pay up to €25 million per year, for the five years until 2029, the year the interconnection is supposed to operate. Provided that the project proceeds smoothly during the five-year period 2025-29. When the project is operational, Cyprus will pay the cost (at 63%), over a period of thirty years, plus the return on capital for IPTO of approximately 8.2%.
The information of the Liberal states that IPTO, in cooperation with the Commission's Directorate-General for Energy, are attempting to set aside the agreement of the two governments and drag CERA into a new settlement, which will provide that CERA will do what the Greek regulatory authority (RAEY), which was also dragged into it following pressure from IPTO and the Greek Government (something it did not do for the Crete-Attica interconnection): To pay all IPTO's expenses, through a burden on consumers, even if Turkey does not allow a single meter to fall into the sea from the €1.4 billion cable built by Nexans.
They counted without the Ministry of Finance
The information of the Liberal Party states that the Ministry of Finance and Minister Makis Keravnos are monitoring the developments very closely, in cooperation with the Ministry of Energy and Minister George Papanastasiou.
And the position of the Ministry of Finance is the following: Not even the €25 million will be disbursed for 2025 if IPTO does not convince that the project is progressing smoothly and at sea, not only at the Nexans plant.
The information of the Liberal Party states that the Ministry of Finance has informed in writing that today's data do not reassure the concerns that the interconnection project has been frozen and is not progressing and that IPTO intends to pay Cypriot consumers for a cable costing €1.4 billion, without he, the Greek government and the EU - let alone the Republic of Cyprus - being able to guarantee that the interconnection will be put in place and operational in 2030 for the benefit of consumers in Cyprus and Greece.
