the eastern Mediterranean and Southeast
Europe.
In the field of interconnections, large investments
are in the pipeline, which the System Operator is
called to realize in the forthcoming years:
●Interconnection of the Cyclades; the tendering
process is underway, involving a budget of 240
million euros at the first stage, 60 million euros
in the second stage and 120 million euros in the
third stage – a total of almost 400 million euros.
●Interconnection of Crete, budgeted at 800 mil-
lion euros, which is part of the Israel-Cyprus-
Greece interconnection, also known as the
Euro Asia Interconnector, budgeted at 3.5 bil-
lion euros.
●A second interconnection between Bulgaria and
Greece, which, as the Euro Asia Interconnector,
has been included in the Projects of Common
Interest of the European Union.
National Fund for Intergenerational Solidarity was
passed this summer; the Fund will be financed
from hydrocarbon-related public revenues, and
its objective is to support the country’s social
security system and ensure its viability.
2.
The Southern European Corridor for the trans-
portation of natural gas from the Caspian
Region to Europe is being realized. The TAP
pipeline, a key European energy security proj-
ect, which is budgeted at 2.5 billion euros and
will create thousands of new jobs, traverses
Northern Greece and upgrades the country’s
geopolitical role.
3.
The pipeline for the transportation of natural
gas from Israeli and Cypriot deposits to main-
land Greece via Crete has been included in the
TransEuropean Energy Networks. So did the
submarine cable for the transportation of elec-
tricity from Israel to Attica via Crete, being the
main electricity link between Asia and Europe.
This way, Greece becomes an energy hub for
Trade with Greece
110
