What goes on in Poland on the 19th of March.
Poland and Germany still disagree on Nord Stream 2
During the press conference of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Poland and Germany, the representative of the Polish Ministry Jacek Czaputowicz and his German partner Heiko Mass discussed the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.
The head of Polish diplomacy said that Germany is the main economic partner of Poland in the EU and an important partner in NATO. – We are pleased that Poland is an important partner of Germany, which was confirmed today – he said. – We want a European Union that is based on four freedoms. We want equal treatment for all EU countries – he added.
When asked about the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, the German minister said that it was a project carried out by private companies. – We want to conduct a dialogue, but it is a commercial and economic project. I think it will continue to be treated like that – said Mass.
In turn, Minister Czaputowicz emphasized that Poland’s position in this matter is different. – It’s a political project. We believe that Russia is using this project as a political blackmail to Ukraine – he said.
In his opinion, Nord Stream 2 will not serve to diversify sources of gas supply, which Poland advocates. – We will convince our partners in the EU that this is a bad project. We will also try to convince the European Commission – he added.
In addition, the head of German diplomacy mentioned his last telephone conversation with British counterpart Boris Johnson. During the meeting, he raised the subject of the declaration of Prime Minister Theresa May to limit London’s dependence on the import of Russian gas.
Lithuania saves on synchronization
Lithuanians want to reduce expenditures on the project of synchronizing power grids with the networks of continental Europe. Litgrid intends to spend 326 million euros for this purpose. It will spend a total of EUR 642,5 million in ten years – according to the network development plan for 2017-2026. The document should be approved by the Lithuanian Commission for Energy and Price Control.
Compared with the network development plan for 2016-2025 approved last year, investments in the synchronization project are currently lower by 4,5 percent and the total expenditure by 4 percent. At the end of February, the Baltic states appealed to EU leaders to secure adequate funds for this purpose in the European Union budget. Synchronization was one of the topics discussed by Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and the Minister of Energy Krzysztof Tchórzewski during last week’s visit to Vilnius. As a result, an agreement was signed on the cooperation between the energy ministries of Poland and Lithuania.
At the beginning of May 2017, the prime ministers of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland reached a preliminary agreement on synchronization. What is important, the minister of energy of Lithuania spoke about the possibility of signing the memorandum in June. Unfortunately, during the then meeting of the Council of the European Union Estonia and Lithuania did not agree on the method of synchronization. At the beginning of February, the Vice-President of the European Commission for Energy Union, Marosz Szefczovicz, announced that the synchronization plan should be created by June. Otherwise there is the risk of losing Brussels financial support for this purpose.