The minister clarified that the final decision will be reached on collective government level and by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who is visiting Moscow on April 8, pointing out that if the plan is approved the benefits for the country will be "from exceptional to quite exceptional."
He also announced that Russian companies will participate in the hydrocarbon exploration in the Ionian Sea and south of the island of Crete. He referred to the maritime zone delimitation based on international law, noting that this is a firm government position and will benefit both Greece and Turkey.
In regions where Turkey has no legal claim, exploration can take place within the 6 mile limit, he said.
If adopted, the natural gas pipeline plan provides that Russian natural gas will reach central Europe through FYROM and Serbia after crossing the Greek-Turkish borders. Lafazanis said that Europe needs the Russian natural gas and underlined that this pipeline should not have the fate of previous plans, like the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline and the South Stream natural gas pipeline. He also expressed opposition to Russia being placed in an "energy quarantine."
The minister stressed that if this pipeline is not built, Russia will be linked with Europe only via Germany and Europe's germanization will be further reinforced, raising obstacles to equal cooperation between countries and peoples.
He said that the extension of the pipeline will be made based on national and European legislation, underlining that "Greece has no complexes, is nobody's satellite and is not subordinate energy-wise to any major power or alliance of countries. Greece wants to exercise an independent national energy policy that will serve national interest," he said, adding that it is unthinkable and unacceptable the fact that agreements between EU states and third countries have to be checked in advance by the EU.
"We want to develop an energy policy that will cut energy prices and the cost of energy supply in raw material," he underlined.Referring to the talks he had in Moscow with Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak and Garzprom's Alexey Miller, the minister said that they discussed issues concerning the natural gas supply price and the take or pay agreement, adding that the Russian side pledged that Russian companies will participate in the tender for hydrocarbon exploration in 20 offshore blocks in the Ionian Sea and south of the island of Crete.
Lafazanis said that he is against the EU embargo on Russia and asked that Greek products be exempt from the Russian embargo on EU farm products, noting that he expects a positive outcome during the prime minister's visit to the Russian capital.
He also said that the issue of Greece's financing by Russia was not raised and as regards privatizations, he pointed out that there is no question of privatization of public-run energy production companies.
Sources: ANA-MPA, enikos, protothema, To Vima
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