Nabucco pipeline highlights Turkey's strategic importance to the EU

24/04/2008

Turkey is trying to parlay its strategic location into becoming a key energy route for the EU. Iraq's recent pledge to supply gas to the Nabucco pipeline increased the project's feasibility.

By Ayhan Simsek for Southeast European Times -- 24/04/08

Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik, who was in Turkey on Monday (April 21st), pledged to keep Union membership negotiations with Ankara going. [Getty Images]

The US-backed Nabucco pipeline project increased Turkey's strategic importance to the EU, and two key opponents of Turkey's EU membership, France and Austria, are softening their objections to the ongoing accession talks.

Nabucco is at the centre of Europe's efforts to reduce dependence on Russian natural gas. Planners envision supplying the EU with gas from the Caspian Sea via Turkey and the Balkan states by 2012-2013.

Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik, who visited Turkey on Monday (April 21st), pledged to keep Union membership negotiations with Turkey open. However, she stressed that Austria did not necessarily support having Turkey "automatically" join the EU. Plassnik highlighted energy as one of the main common interests binding EU and Turkey, and she voiced support for the Nabucco project.

Also on Monday, EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn told the German daily Die Welt that the French EU presidency in the second half of the year would oversee the opening of the energy chapter in Turkey's accession talks.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy opposes Turkey's EU membership, but energy giant Gaz de France has strong interest in the Nabucco project. Diplomatic sources say France is likely to use the opening of the energy chapter as leverage with Turkey.

Turkey started EU accesssion talks in 2005, but in the last three years, only six out of the 35 necessary chapters have been opened. The decades-old Cyprus issue and objections by Sarkozy forced suspension of eight major chapter openings.

France now wants to join the Nabucco project, but Turkish resistance is blocking it so far. Currently, a consortium of companies from Turkey and five EU member states -- Austria, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Germany -- is implementing the project.

Turkey continues to negotiate with the EU on Nabucco details. Brussels wants Turkey to be a transit country earning a transit fee, while Ankara would rather become a regional hub collecting gas from suppliers and selling it to Europe for a variable fee.

The Nabucco project has pledges from Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan to deliver 18 billion cubic m of gas a year, which amounts to almost 55% of the pipeline's capacity. The companies seek additional gas to make the project more feasible.

The recent visit of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to Brussels increased hopes of securing needed gas. During the visit last week, Iraq committed to send at least 5 billion cubic m a year from its Akkas oilfield. An agreement is expected in the coming weeks.