PM says Nabucco pipeline has been restored to EU project list

Friday 7:54, March 20th, 2009

http://bbjonline.hu/?col=1002&id...

Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány told journalists in Brussels on Thursday that as a result of preparatory talks held before the European Union summit to begin on Thursday afternoon, the Nabucco gas-pipeline project has been restored to the list of projects for which the EU is to provide support.

Gyurcsány said that as the situation currently stands, the European Union would provide a €200 million credit guarantee for the Nabucco project, though the fate of the €5 billion economic-stimulus package that includes the support for construction of the pipeline is still unclear.

The prime minister said that the inclusion on the EU list of a renovation of the power line stretching from Vienna to Győr (northwest Hungary) was also a positive development from Hungary’s perspective.

Finance Minister János Veres, who was also present at the Thursday press conference in Brussels, said that there has been an initiative to add €10 billion to the European Union’s €25 billion support fund for member states suffering from the effects of the financial crisis, though it is doubtful that a decision regarding this increase will be made at the EU summit beginning on Thursday.

Gyurcsány said he spoke to German Chancellor Angela Merkel via telephone on Monday, though he did not confirm press information that Ms Merkel is in the process of formulating a bank-bailout program with assistance of international financial institutions involving several eastern European banks.

Gyurcsány said the purported German plan has not been submitted to the EU, adding that he would welcome such a program if it exists. (MTI-Econews)