EU includes Nabucco in energy fund

Hurriyet Daily News with wires

Bolstering the reliability of energy supplies has soared to the top of the European Union's agenda since Russia invaded Georgia last summer, coming close to a key gas supply route. The EU received a further shock this month when a gas dispute between Russia and transit country Ukraine cut supplies to Europe. The Commission proposal includes a plan for funding worth 1 billion euros towards gas interconnectors to allow the EU's 27 states to help each other better during gas crises, plus over 500 million euros for wind power projects.

’Russia not joining Nabucco’
The Russian ambassador to Turkey, Vladimir Ivanovskiy said yesterday in Ankara that his country was not standing against the EU’s flagship Nabucco project to carry Caspian gas to the West but made clear that Russia would not be involved in the project.

"EU ambassadors tell me in our private meetings that it is hard to realize the Nabucco project without Russia but the framework of the project will undergo changes if Russia is involved," he said in reference to the commonly cited need for Nabucco to reduce Europe’s dependence on Russian gas supplies.